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sonnetthebard · 3 years

Note

This is kind of a crack idea, but I don't really care and I'm throwing it out anyway

Curt and Owen have to go undercover in a show for a mission(keeping an eye on one of the members of the cast maybe?). The show? Either Spies are Forever or a Hatchetfield show, take your pick -S

S anon... you have been waiting a while for this, and I apologize. With Headless, I needed a moment to recharge. So this is going to be a Modern! SAF fic. And as a treat, we're going original cast in an AU. That's right folks. Extra meta content. You asked for crack, you're gonna get crack. Please note: Most of the stories pertaining to the real people involved in this oneshot are made up based on what facts I know about them/ what I’m able to pick up on personalities. I don’t know any of these people personally, though. This is going to be such a ride, so buckle up.

Genre: Comedy/ Action/ Fluff

Words: 5639

TL;DR: Curt and Owen take the stage in order to monitor Chimera and one of their operatives. The thing is, they only have a vague clue as to who they're going after: he was one of the writers.

TW: Swearing, Guns, Fighting- But not much, this is mostly just gonna be a joke.

_________________________________________________

"Next we have... Curt Mega?" The longer-haired one read off, looking at Curt. "Cool name! We might have to use that- if, of course, that's okay with you."

"Oh... yeah, that's fine." Curt chuckled softly.

What, precisely, was Curt doing? Only the thing he'd vowed to Owen that he would never do (other than, of course, leave him): auditioning for a musical. Owen was a total theatre kid, and he'd done his share of musicals. Curt was always in the audience, but he'd jokingly told Owen that he would never be joining him up there. But... here he was. In an audition room. Curt never broke promises, not even joke ones. But these were... extenuating circumstances. In other words, this was for a mission and he had no doubt that Cynthia would actually kill him if he didn't follow through with his orders. Owen gave him a sly, triumphant smirk from across the room, where he was waiting for his audition. Curt got up, following the guy back further into the studio where they were holding auditions.

This mission was an odd one. It was monitoring a potential operative with Chimera Worldwide. Sure, they had the world by storm now- but A.S.S. was getting intel telling them that they might be breaching the privacy rights of people all over the world. In fact, Chimera may be a lot more criminal than they would seem to the naked eye. There was evidence coming to light of plots that could very well end in world domination. The worst part: apparently they were pretty plausible. One world government, puppeted by Chimera. That's why MI6 had sent Owen, and A.S.S. had sent Curt. They were their best agents, and a duo that had proven to work well together.

What did all of that have to do with a musical? To the average joe, nothing. Oh, Chimera had done well. They'd even declined to offer these guys a production grant so as to not seem shady. But... the A.S.S. had reason to believe that one of the writers and producers for the show that they were about to audition for was an operative for Chimera. Now, this play in and of itself may be an independent project. It may have nothing to do with Chimera. But... it was looking like the easiest way to monitor this operative, and so here Curt and Owen were. Owen was thrilled! He loved doing shows. He usually had to slot them into his schedule carefully, though. He couldn't do them during missions. So a mission where he was doing theatre was basically a dream come true for him.

Curt and Owen had chosen roles according to their experience with theatre. Curt had chosen to keep his name as his theatrical stage name, and Owen already did keep his name as a stage name. It was risky, but it also provided their names with a solid cover in the world outside of espionage. Owen had a legitimate resume built. That was why he was going for the lead, currently named 'JB' for 'James Bond' (subject to change). Curt, on the other hand, had stolen his resume from another actor named Curt Mega (who had fully agreed to that and signed an NDA and luckily enough happened to look like Curt). He had literally no acting experience, so he was going for a smaller role: The Informant and Ensemble. Both would likely have eyes on different parts of the production process and the cast. Hopefully they'd get a good idea of what was going on and who their target was. Maybe they'd even get to eliminate the threat! That was Curt's favourite part of missions.

"So, Curt... you did Glee?" The guy who had initially called him asked as they walked.

"Yep!" Curt lied.

"I recognize you! You were one of the Warblers- nice job on that solo in Uptown Girl, by the way." The man chuckled. Oh good. He was passable as the other Curt Mega. "I did Glee too. I was only there for, like, an episode though. But my buddy Darren... well, you probably know him."

"Yeah. He did a phenomenal job as Blaine." Curt smirked. Darren was also on an NDA. The government was being extremely careful.

"I'm Joey Richter. Me and my friends Brian and Corey wrote this show." The man introduced himself, extending his hand. Curt took it, giving him a firm shake. Joey smirked. "Damn... you've got a good shake."

"Thanks." Curt chuckled. He liked this guy. It was hard to imagine right now that he could be talking to an agent for one of the greatest evils known to man since... probably the Nazis. "I'm Curt... I mean, you know that, I just..."

"Yeah, I get it." Joey chuckled along with him. They walked into a room. Inside there were four other men. Two sat behind a table, Curt's supposed 'resume' and headshots laid out in front of them, a stack of papers on the side. Two other men shared a piano bench stationed by a keyboard. None of them were dressed particularly formally. Actually, they were all dressed pretty similarly to Curt. Short-sleeved patterned button-ups were about as formal as it got. So Curt and his black, white and gold striped short-sleeved button-up were in good company. "Hey, guys! This is Curt!"

"Hey! Welcome to the auditions for Spies are Forever!" One of the men behind the table smiled brightly. God, all of these men looked... so innocent. Curt couldn't see any of them being traitors to their country, much less mankind.

"Okay, so that's Brian. The guy beside him is Corey." Joey introduced. Corey waved. "The two guys at the piano bench are Clark and Pierce, our composers and band."

"Hey, Curt." Clark smirked.

"You brought your sixteen bars?" Pierce checked.

"Yep." Curt nodded, popping his 'p' and passing him the binder with his sheet music in it.

He'd brought Being Alive from Company, which Owen said was "such a cliche" and "a terrible choice for a comic show", but it was the song Curt felt most comfortable singing. So he was singing it anyways. Owen was very adamant that Curt had to be careful to actually be cast in the show, but Curt held that that song was his best chance. Curt had always thought he was an okay singer. He had his range that he shined in, and he used that. He never performed though. He wasn't that good. That's why he was going for a mostly non-singing role. He went over his cut with Clark, who was actually the one who would be playing for him. Then he cleared his throat, took a deep breath and gave it the old college try.

The odd thing, Curt thought, was that they seemed very into it. Either they were being very nice to him or they were genuinely enjoying the performance. Curt was a bit surprised by that. Owen was the performer among the two of them. Curt supposed it could just be the song. But then... something else unexpected happened. They asked Curt to do his cold read as 'JB'... and change the name to his own. 'Agent Curt Mega'. It was all getting a bit real for Curt. They liked him. And they liked his cold read. They were laughing during his cold read- and at all the right times! Curt was very confused. This wasn't where he was supposed to shine. He walked out of the audition room, and Owen was called in.

Owen really could not have come out sooner. Curt was anxious. What had he just done? He had given it his best because he thought that the best that could get him was ensemble. Was it going to get him more? Was he ready for more? He was past the point of no return, but... God, what had he just done? Owen came out of his audition, smug and content with himself. Apparently they'd asked him to read multiple sides. Curt hadn't the heart to tell him they'd asked him to read for the lead. A few days passed. Curt almost forgot that he'd even auditioned. That it had been so successful. Basking in the California sun could do that to you. But three days later, it all came back to him all too vividly.

"Curt, I got the email!" Owen announced from where he was lazing on the couch across from Curt in their hotel room. He sat up quickly, eager.

"What does it say?" Curt asked eagerly, sitting up with him. Owen scrolled down on his phone.

"Well... I'm in the show..." Owen furrowed his brows. "But... not in the role I thought. I got Deadliest Man Alive."

"Oh." Curt frowned. "I'm sorry. I know you really wanted the lead."

"It seemed like a juicy part." Owen hummed, still a bit dazed by the rejection. "I was looking forward to it."

"I know, babe." Curt sighed, getting up and wrapping his partner in a hug. "Maybe this one will be even juicier!"

"Maybe..." Owen nodded. "Thank you, love. For trying to make me feel better."

"Yeah, no problem!" Curt smiled softly.

"Did you get your email?" Owen asked.

"I... haven't checked." Curt admitted.

"Well go on, then! Sit! We'll check together!" Owen urged him. Curt sighed, sitting beside him and opening his email. Owen peered over his shoulder. The email from the Tin Can Bros was the first one that popped up right at the top. "Open it, Curt!"

"Okay..." Curt chuckled nervously, pressing the email to open it. He scrolled down, sighing in relief. "I got in, O."

"Congratulations!" Owen cheered, grinning. he was genuinely happy for Curt, and excited to be in the same show. "What role?"

"Let me scroll down..." Curt chuckled, before his heart stopped. Naturally, his laughter stopped with it, and his face fell.

"Love, what is it?" Owen furrowed his brows, concerned by the sudden mood shift. Immediately, his mind went to the worst-case scenario. "Curt, is there anything in there indicating that we might be compromised?"

"No..." Curt shook his head, staring at the role.

"Then... darling, what's wrong?" Owen blinked, before looking over his shoulder. His face fell to a state of shock almost equal to Curt's when he read the words, bolded on the screen: We would like to offer you the role of 'JB', renamed Agent Curt Mega. "Oh..."

_________________________________________________

Rehearsals for Spies Are Forever were potentially one of the best times Curt had ever had. Everyone loved him! Apparently, his voice was much better than he'd given himself credit for, as was his acting. Even Owen admitted it. It turned out Curt was perfect for the role. The songs fit right for him, the personality was spot on... the spy was even gay! It was as though it was written specifically for him to perform. Curt truly was having the time of his life. And Owen was loving the role of Deadliest Man Alive. It turned out it was a significantly juicier role than Curt's- funny, dark. And he even had a minor side comedic role to take on, Dick Big. So he could flex his chops in different area. There was a bit of a minor complication with the characters, though.

It turned out Curt's was not the only name that they'd liked. The Tin Can Bros had thought Owen's name was absolutely perfect... for Curt's partner turned villain. Romantic partner turned villain, to boot. They liked the ship name Curtwen. Ironically, both Owen and Joey were playing versions of Agent Owen Carvour- Owen playing him when he was in disguise as Deadliest Man Alive, Joey playing him out of disguise. Owen didn't make a fuss- he couldn't in the position he was in. But he didn't like being portrayed that way, or his name being used that way. The truth was, Owen had used to be morally grey. He'd had a phase where he'd almost betrayed his country and Curt. He'd very nearly done some terrible things. He wouldn't way who for, but Owen had implied it might have been Chimera. But he and Curt had worked through that, and he saw the error of his ways. It hurt seeing his name associated with villainy again. But for the sake of the mission, he literally could not complain.

As for the mission, they weren't really getting too far yet- and that wasn’t for lack of effort. As hard as finding a balance between rehearsal and espionage was, they’d managed to find a routine and stick to it. The work they were doing really should have been productive for them. They'd bugged all three writers and the two composers, but HQ (who was monitoring those so that the boys could focus on rehearsing so that they didn’t become too suspicious) was saying that they'd not gotten any suspicious activity from those except for Joey constantly being with an unidentified girl. But it seemed like that was his girlfriend and not another operative. So either this operative was smart and onto them or taking a hiatus from their work. Background checks were pretty clean. They were going purely off their interactions with these writers, which wasn’t really helping. All five of them were lovely. All five of them were also extremely smart. And all five of them had acting experience. Right now, though... Joey, Clark and Pierce weren't their main suspects. Joey was just too genuine to be bad, as were Pierce and Clark. Plus, if we're looking at technicalities (as Owen tended to), Clark and Pierce were composers, not writers. It was between Brian and Corey- unless something changed. Truly, it was anyone's game.

Owen and Curt were on break. It had been a hard day of rehearsal so far. Curt had just had to rehearse his pseudo-love-song with Mary Kate (who was lovely, but he was a bit jealous of- Owen had called her 'gorgeous' on multiple occasions now), and though it wasn't physically or musically demanding it was hard not to just start laughing. Especially with Curt, a gay man who had experienced this before. And Lauren played his meddling mother during the song, which only made it harder not to laugh. His own mother had no idea what he did or who he was seeing, and it was better that way. She just thought he was a single banker. He liked Lauren’s version of his mom better. She was way funnier. It had taken a bit of time just to get a run in where Curt wasn't giggling the entire time. The song was just so well written! He knew it was so unprofessional (and Owen had certainly reminded him of that) but he couldn't help it! And the Bros were laughing with him, so it was all good. He was glad to be on break, because his sides were killing him. He scrolled through his phone, checking for anything from HQ, before he felt a hand on his back.

"You know, Curt, I don't know if I've told you this lately but you're really, really great!" Joey told him.

"Thanks, man." Curt chuckled. "Thanks for the opportunity!"

"Thank you for coming out for our show!" Joey smirked. His voice dropped to a lower volume. “Listen... you and Owen are dating, right?”

"Yeah..." Curt furrowed his brows. He and Owen had chosen to be open about that. They were all pretty supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. The actor playing Susan and The Informant had even confessed to him that they thought they might be nonbinary- maybe even female leaning.

"Okay, so for the whole anniversary thing..." Joey fidgeted a bit nervously. "I mean... I've got an anniversary coming up, and, like, it's not my first, but... I think I’ve used every trick in the dating book at this point, and-"

"Wait, you're dating?" Curt blinked.

"Oh! Right, you're new!" Joey started to laugh. "Um... yeah! It's me and Lo."

"You and Lauren?" Curt smirked. He chuckled. "I knew it!"

"We're not public about the relationship yet, though, so... keep it quiet?" Joey pleaded.

"Oh yeah, you're safe." Curt assured him.

"So... any ideas?" Joey asked. “I really want this to be special for her.”

"Have you guys done the beach yet?" Curt offered. "Like, just a picnic- something you both love to eat- out on the beach."

"Yeah, did that two years ago." Joey sighed.

"Alright... how about a museum?" Curt offered. "It can be any museum that has something the two of you could bond over. But... I mean, Owen is super into experiencing art together."

"That we haven't done... not by ourselves on a date." Joey considered. "It doesn't even really have to be art, does it?"

"Nah, that's the beauty of museums! There are museums out there for everything." Curt smirked. “Maybe you two could go to a movie museum.”

"That’s probably more our speed.” Joey chuckled. “Thanks, man!”

"No problem.” Curt winked playfully. Then, he got an idea. He trusted Joey, so hopefully this worked. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

"I mean, I kinda owe you one." Joey chuckled. “Ask away!”

"Have you noticed anyone... acting a bit weird? Like... different from the way they usually do." Curt whispered.

"I... think I know who you mean." Joey nodded. "With Mary Kate... I think she honestly just misses Sean, you know? The rehearsals are a long time for her to be away from him. Those two are so close."

"Yeah... yeah, that must be hard on her." Curt hummed sympathetically. That... wasn't what he'd been going for.

"But I don't know what's going on with Brian." Joey confided in him. "I mean, it's not like he's been acting weird, per se, but... I mean, he always used to be down to just hang after work. But recently, he's been too busy to do that? I honestly thought it was just me who was picking up on that, but like... you're noticing it too?"

"Yeah. Yeah I am." Curt lied, all the sympathy he could muster in his tone. Bingo. He'd just gotten some really, really good intel there. If there was anyone who would be able to know when one of the writers was acting shady, it was Joey. They were his best friends. And Curt tended to agree with Joey anyways. Corey just didn’t give off villain vibes. Neither did Brian, but out of the two of them, Brian gave off more. “Glad it’s not just me.”

"What's he saying about me?" Brian rolled his eyes playfully, approaching his bag from behind them to grab something. Shit. He must have heard his name.

"Uh..." Joey blushed.

"Oh, he was just telling me about how you two met." Curt lied. Joey gave him a questioning look. But Curt remembered him mentioning it in another one of his longwinded vents. "U of Michigan, Freshmen year. You two got into a lot of trouble."

"He's not telling you any of the bad stuff, is he?" Brian teased.

"Nah, man- I respect the bro code!" Joey scoffed playfully. Curt gave Joey a wink, and Joey gave him a grateful look in return. The wink hadn't gone unnoticed by Brian though.

"Oh god, he is telling you the bad stuff, isn't he?" Brian groaned playfully. "Listen, if Lauren asks, none of it was us."

"Oh don't worry... I'm great with secrets." Curt chuckled. He kinda wanted context now. Knowing those two, it was nothing serious- Joey had a heart of gold. He wouldn't be involved in anything bad. Especially not with his soon-to-be-girlfriend. So probably pranks, or other such shenanigans.

"Guys... I already knew it was you." Lauren rolled her eyes. None of them had noticed her by her own rehearsal bag picking up her water bottle. "It was so obvious... I may have believed you when you blamed Holden like... once? Twice? But you literally signed off half of the time."

"We did?" Joey blinked, looking at Brian.

"Okay, look, some of the time... I was pretty proud of our work." Brian defended himself.

"Dude!" Joey started to snicker. "And here I was keeping secrets from my girlfriend for you!"

"Sorry, Joey." Brian winced.

“Eh, I guess I have to forgive you.” Joey rolled his eyes, chuckling. “You’re my best friend.”

“Hey, what’s that?” Lauren asked, noticing a pink piece of paper sticking out of Curt’s rehearsal bag. Curt blushed profusely. That was the letter Owen had written to pick him up. he took it everywhere with him in case he panicked so that he could read it, remember those days and calm down. It helped. He’d meant to keep it hidden.

“Oh... it’s nothing.” Curt lied.

“It’s not nothing, is it?” Lauren smirked. She gave him a genuine look. “Is it personal?”

“Oh, it’s nothing too bad.” Owen chuckled. Curt blushed further, feeling Owen wrap his arms around his waist. When had he gotten there?”

“What’s going on over here?” Corey asked, joining them. It seemed they had formed a rather large clump.

“I think Lauren might be about to read the first letter I ever wrote to Curtis.” Owen smirked triumphantly, clearly not embarrassed by that prospect.

“Ooooo romantic!” Tessa teased Curt. When had she shown up? God, for a spy, Curt was not very observant. He took a brief look at his surroundings. Ah. Everyone was there. Fantastic.

“Oh hell yeah I am!” Lauren smirked. She plucked the paper out of Curt’s bag.

“Oh god...” Curt groaned.

“You okay with this?” Corey checked with Curt. Curt nodded reluctantly.

“I mean, as long as O is.” Curt sighed, relenting.

With that, Lauren used the rest of their break to overdramatically read out Owen’s letter. Curt was a blushing mess, and Owen was grinning like an idiot. Evidently he was proud of himself- as he should have been. It was a good letter. At least Curt and Owen now had an idea of who to look into: Brian Rosenthal. It was a bit odd to think that Brosenthal might be a Chimera operative. He was a funny, quirky... he didn’t seem ruthless enough. Maybe they were wrong. But this was literally all the intel they could get at the moment. Mind you, they needed concrete evidence before they could actually do anything, but... at least they had a lead. Even if it was a weird one. The thing about espionage was that leads were usually weird. So they... well, they managed to bug all of the writers’ houses a bit more to give HQ more to work with, but especially Brian’s. That way the minute they had solid evidence, they could act. Well... not the minute. More like within about twenty minutes. But same difference. There was nothing else they could do.

________________________________________________

Nothing happened through the rest of the rehearsal process. Literally nothing. No one did anything suspicious. Honestly, Curt and Owen were starting to think that their superiors were wrong. They were performing their shows- with excellent reception, might they add. People were loving Curt. The real Curt Mega was getting huge acclaim on Curt’s behalf. And the fans... well they were going mad. It was looking like the show would be a huge success- which meant two things. One, Curt was going to have to do more theatre. Cleary he was good at it. Two, his life as a spy was about to get more... complicated. IT turned out these guys had a bit of a cult following because they had been involved with a theatre group called Team Starkid? Curt knew about them from his mission briefing, but honestly he’d never thought that they were that big of a deal. When he’d confessed that to Owen he’d gotten a long lecture. Apparently Owen was also a fan, and that was half of why he was so excited to be doing this show. But that was a topic for another time.

It was about the third show in when they finally got the evidence they had been looking for. It... was not when they’d planned to find anything. Actually, it was at the least convenient time. Between acts. It was also in the least expected way. Curt had to get his props for the top of Act Two. Owen decided to go with him, mostly to make sure he wasn’t a total and utter child. Honestly, they just meant to get their props before places. They were the only ones in that area backstage- the stagehands were resetting the stage and helping with costume changes/ tech issues. Well, they thought they were the only ones backstage. They should have been. But it turns out that someone else had anticipated the lack of people, and was using that to his advantage. At first, all Curt and Owen could hear were murmurs- not distinguishable in the slightest. Bey both gave each other a look before pulling out their real guns (which they hid on their costumes just in case) and following the sound. And that was when they saw him. The culprit behind all of this: Bri- Corey Lubowich? They lowered their guns a bit, staying dead quiet. That wasn’t what they’d been expecting. {erhaps this was a false alarm.

“I am in the middle of a- no, I get that my work with you is important! Believe me, I know!” Corey hissed. “I just... tonight is one of my shows! I’m going on as the Prince! I- well can it wait half an hour? I mean I’d prefer two hours, but if I have to whip out my laptop backstage, I- well I’m kinda insisting on- come on, you guys know my theatre is important to me!”

“Okay... so we were wrong...” Owen whispered.

“We don’t know that...” Curt reasoned. “It could be his family.”

“Of course I’m loyal! When have I not done what you said? I have sacrificed so much for you!” Corey fumed quietly. “Chimera is my life now! Not theatre, not my family or friends. Chimera! Do you know how fucking weird that is for someone my age?! I’m too young for all this corporate shit! No! No, of course that’s not what I’m saying just- can I have my night? Come on, this is really important.”

“Okay, I take that back.” Curt blinked, stunned. He was just a bit too loud. Corey’s head snapped in their direction, and both men raised their guns. Corey’s eyes fumbled, and he pulled out a gun of his own, haphazardly aiming it at them.

“Okay... shit, guys, I’m going to have to call you back... we’ve got a situation.” Corey muttered. His face fell and he rolled his eyes, unimpressed. “No, not a theatre situation. An us situation. I’ll fill you in- look, they have guns. Just- I really don’t have the time for this anymore- NOT MY JOB WITH YOU! This conversation! Jesus, I’ve got two guns pointed at me! Let me go! Okay, fine! Bye!”

“You...” Curt spat, glaring at Corey.

“You guys finally figured it out...” Corey sighed, raising his gun fully at them.

“You know who we are?” Curt blinked.

“How?” Owen asked him coldly.

“Chimera has eyes and ears everywhere.” Corey rolled his eyes. “Just like in the show. I knew you were coming, and I knew you were looking for me. I just didn’t think you’d actually find me.”

“Are you insulting our intelligence?” Owen scoffed.

“No. I just thought I set up Brian pretty well.” Corey admitted. “It was pretty easy, too... all I had to do was point out to Joey that Brian wasn’t coming to as many of our hangouts as he used to. You trusted Joey. Joey relayed that to you. Threw you completely off my scent.”

“Yeah, aren’t you just the friend of the year.” Curt rolled his eyes. “You threw your bro under the bus.”

“You’re lucky we didn’t get a false tip-off and eliminate him.” Owen hummed in agreement. “You’ve no clue the kinds of things that could set our superiors off.”

“Well... It’s Brian. The chances of him doing anything sketchy are slim to none.” Corey reasoned.

“Corey, I’m going to need you to put that gun down and put your hands behind your head.” Curt sighed.

“Alright, guys, places!” Joey called out to them. Everyone was backstage- except, oddly, Lauren (who was usually pretty punctual on cues). Shit. Their timing was awful. “You can play with the... are those our prop guns?”

“No... those are too modern.” Brian furrowed his brows, approaching them to get a closer look. He blinked before stumbling back. “Holy shit, guys... are those real guns?”

“Yes, they are... and you’re going to need to stay back.” Curt told them levelly. “Lubowich, gun down, hands behind your head.”

“We outgun and outman you.” Owen reminded him. The fact that Corey was so reluctant was astounding. “And we have a license to kill if you don’t cooperate.”

“Okay, guys, what the fuck?!” Joey exclaimed.

“Can we just... put the guns down and talk this out?” Tessa pleaded.

“No... we can’t.” Curt shook his head. “My name is Agent Curt Mega, American Secret Service. My partner is Owen Carvour, MI6.”

“Our credentials...” Owen muttered, pulling them out with one hand and holding them out to Brian, who was closest. He hesitantly took them. Corey shot Owen while he wasn’t in peak position to shoot him. Curt shot Corey back with no hesitation. Neither shot was fatal, Corey’s hitting Owen in the arm and Curt’s hitting Corey in the shoulder. The impact was enough to make both men stumble back. Owen stayed on his feet, but Corey fell. Curt kept his gun trained on Corey.

“Holy shit, they’re not lying...” Brian mumbled.

“Okay, Corey... what the actual fuck, man?!” Joey fumed, definitely feeling a bit betrayed.

“Corey... why are you fighting the secret service?” Mary Kate asked coolly, trying to be the level-headed one.

“He works for Chimera.” Curt told them, knowing they might not get a clear response from Corey for a bit.

“The assholes who wouldn’t fund us?” Brian groaned. Corey grunted in admittance. “Come on, man! This just keeps getting worse and worse!”

“Okay, guys, I’m here. Sorry I took so-” Lauren started, rushing out. She saw the scene playing out and blinked. “Holy fuck! What’s going on?!”

“They’re actual fucking spies, Lo.” Joey hissed. “All three of them.”

“Pretty sure Curt and Owen are the good guys.” Brian added in a whisper.

“Oh yeah, Curt and Owen are definitely the good guys.” Tessa gulped.

“Corey is an agent for Chimera.” Curt explained.

“Please tell me this is an elaborate prank.” Lauren chuckled nervously.

“No, Lo... this time it’s real.” Joey sighed.

“Okay, but... Chimera’s just a huge global corporation, right?” Mary Kate reasoned.

“Not really.” Corey croaked out.

“They’re plotting world domination.” Owen grunted.

“Corey...” Joey breathed.

“World domination makes it sound bad.” Corey grimaced. “We more just want control over every world government... and then maybe to take all of them out and form one Chimera government.”

“That doesn’t make it sound any better.” Tessa winced.

“Why?” Brian asked Corey, hurt. “Why are you doing this?”

“Honestly, I just needed a bit of extra money in college.” Corey muttered, trying and failing to find his footing. Clearly he wasn’t a field agent too often.

“So you turned to espionage?!” Lauren scoffed incredulously.

“Honestly I started as a delivery boy and then I found out some shit I should never have known...” Corey sighed. “It escalated really quickly.”

“God, this is a mess.” Joey groaned.

“Curt, love, can you give our superiors a ring?” Owen prompted him. “I’ll deal with our former friend here.”

“On it.” Curt nodded, pulling out his phone.

“So... do we stop the show?” Brian asked Owen as he pulled out a zip-tie- another essential item Owen always kept on him, even in costumes.

“Oh no... the A.S.S. is the epitome of discretion. Believe me, you’ll have no clue what’s going on. Just see if you can find a friend in the audience to go on for The Prince.” Owen told them, tying up Corey and forcing him onto his feet. “Owen will take him outside and... he should honestly be ready to go on after We Love The Prince.”

“Holy shit... okay...” Lauren sighed.

“I’ll make an announcement that we’re having technical difficulties...” Joey planned. “Let’s, um... just take a moment to breathe and get back into the right headspace.”

“We’ll be back in a moment.” Curt told them as he and Owen took Corey outside.

“Rot in hell, you asshole!” Brian called after him, sniffing. Was he... crying? You know what, it was completely fair. That was one hell of a betrayal.

So Curt and Owen passed Corey onto their superiors, and Spies Are Forever was able to go on. They got Nick Lang to play The Prince, which only made the fans more excited. Curt and Owen were allowed the opportunity to finish their run with the show- which Curt was so, so grateful for. He loved theatre. he never thought he would, but he loved it. And Owen loved that he loved it. Spies are Forever was the first of many shows for Curt. He got into the habit, like Owen, of doing shows between missions. In fact, he actually got to make Owen a little jealous later on- he got into a Starkid show. Mind you, they knew who he was. Fully this time. They even supported him- helped him build a public backstory. The real Curt Mega’s wife even played wife to him publicly when she needed to. It was a new start in Curt’s life and one that he hadn’t even known he needed. Finally, everything seemed like it was okay.

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huntertales · 3 years

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Part Four: All’s Well That Ends Well. (Bad Boys S09E07)

Episode Summary: When an old friend of Dean’s asks for help to solve a murder, Sam and the reader discover that the older Winchester as a secret past—one that will help solve the hunt. Pairing: Dean Winchester x Reader Word Count: 3,476.

Previous Part | Supernatural Rewrite Masterlist

There was never a better feeling than wrapping up a particular rough hunt. Before you and the boys could say your final goodbyes to everyone and hit the road back to Kansas, Dean wanted to stay a little longer and have a private chat with Robin after the eventful afternoon she endured. There was nothing stopping him from giving the woman a proper goodbye, the one she deserved to have all those years ago. She was starting to understand Dean's past more and why he moved around so often. The business he inherited from his father wasn't like her own, but there was a sort of satisfaction to it of helping people.

"So, then, this is the family business?" Robin asked the man, still trying to wrap her head around everything she witnessed earlier today.

"Told you it was boring." Dean replied with a casual tone that made Robin laugh. She shook her head at his attitude that was too laid back for her personal comfort. She had a feeling he dealt with stranger things out there in the world. "Well, as you can see, I did not run off to become a rockstar."

"Mm...I don't know about that." Robin said. She tilted her head and smiled at the man. Despite the years that passed between them, not many things changed about him from his youth. He was still the same. Except that he seemed more assured of himself, more confident. And perhaps a tad bit happier. "You look pretty rockin' to me, Dean Winchester."

Dean chuckled at the woman's compliment. "And what about you?"

"I mean, I always thought that I would hate being in the same little town my whole life, and you know, taking over the diner like Dad always wanted, but...I don't. I just—I love it." Robin admitted. Dean was happy to hear about how the woman's life turned out. it was far from what she aspired to be when she was a teenager, but from the look on her face, she wouldn’t have it any other way. “How about you? The family business all that bad?”

“Well, it’s not all threatening to harm kids and spirits. It has its ups and downs, I’m not gonna lie. But it’s not all that bad.” Dean said. It was sort of funny to think back to the things the both of them discussed when they were teenagers. All their hopes and dreams for something different, wanting nothing more than to distance themselves from what their parents wanted, only to follow the exact same path they wanted to avoid. "I guess we didn't know everything we did at sixteen, huh?"

“Not everything.” Robin agreed. “Just some things.”

She guessed everything happens for a reason. If he asked, she would admit to him that he felt like the one who got away. She wondered from time to time if things might have turned out differently if he stayed and they went on that date he promised her. Would their lives have ended up differently? For better or worse? She didn't know, and quite frankly, didn't really care. Robin was genuinely happy with the way her life turned out. It might not have been exciting and adventurous like Dean's, but she was okay with that.

Robin found her mind wandering to a few different places with a couple of questions she wanted to try and pick Dean's brain before he left. She only had gotten a taste of what he went up against everyday. Part of her wanted to ask what kind of things were out there, but she had a feeling ignorance was bliss in this sort of situation. However there were other things she was curious about. She noticed Dean look over his shoulder to you and his brother, who had been talking to Sonny after he arrived back from the hospital.

"Okay, I gotta know." Robin let out a quiet sigh from the intrusive thought that wouldn't leave her alone. She shoved her hands into her back pocket and casually glanced over your way. "Is Y/N your wife? I mean, I only ask because you don't seem the traditional type. And the both of you seem...pretty close.”

“No. Not yet, at least.” Dean said. He found himself glancing back over in your direction again to see you talking to Sonny, seeming to have moved on from the update from the smile on your face. He prayed the older man who looked after him for those two months wasn’t telling you some kind of embarrassing story you’d most likely tease him about later when the both of you were alone. “I’m still waiting for the day she gets sick of me and runs off.”

"Give yourself some credit. If she didn't snatch you up, maybe I would have." Robin teased the man. She took the man by surprise when she leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Not in a romantic sort of way, but a thank you for everything he had given her. "Goodbye, Dean. If you ever happen to come back here, those banana pancakes will always be waiting for you."

The older Winchester smiled at the woman's open invitation and quietly gave her a verbal goodbye. He watched as Robin mader her way up the porch steps and joined Timmy who had been lingering near the front door. The kid smiled and waved to Dean before joining Robin back inside his permanent home. Dean left this place with a better feeling than he had all these years ago. Sonny was a good man, if anyone could help a kid like Timmy, he was the perfect person to do so.

Dean made his way over to you and Sam, overhearing the conversation about the things Timmy went through today and the person responsible for the deaths of Ruth and Jack, along with the harming of the other boy Sonny was looking over as well. Trauma and trouble were things Sonny was quite familiar with. And he'd do anything in his power to make sure the kid grew up in a loving home.

"Sounds like Timmy's gonna need some help adjusting." Sonny said.

"Yeah, but he's got you." Dean told the man.

"I always hate to see you go, dee-dawg. Can't thank you enough for this one, man." Sonny reached out and shook the older Winchester's hand before embracing him into a quick hug.

"Sonny, we'll see you around." Dean gave his final goodbyes to the man, a little disappointed all of you had to leave so soon. He'd like to stick around for a little while longer and catch up with Sonny, but he was starting to miss his own bed after a stressful hunt like the one all of you endured.

"You bet on that, kids." Sonny said. "Take it easy, man."

All of you gave your final goodbyes to the man before you watched Sonny make his way back up to the house to join the boys. You let out a quiet sigh and walked to the Impala that was parked a few feet away. As you reached for the backseat door, Sam found himself caught up with how the hunt ended. The situation looked like it was going to end horribly, until it didn't. Talking out problems to the monster straight on almost never worked. But for some reason it did in this situation.

"Hey, how did you know Timmy asking his mom to leave was gonna work?" Sam asked his brother, a little bit curious to hear the answer.

“I didn’t. Total Hail Mary.” Dean admitted. “Got lucky.”

"You just got lucky?" Sam repeated his brother's response, seeming to find it a bit funny like the man did. "Kind of like you did with this place. I mean, here I was thinking this was the worst part of your life, and it turns out it was the best. Why'd you ever leave?"

Dean would never admit the truth about this place to either one or Sam. There were some things about his life that he wanted to remain a secret. "Never felt right." Dean said. Sam didn't seem to fully believe the excuse his brother tried to use, you simply looked between both of the boys, understanding the things neither one of them wanted to say. "It was two months, Sam, okay, and I couldn't wait to get out of here. I don't know what to tell you. It wasn't me."

The boys were good liars when they wanted to be. If you keep telling yourself the same thing over and over again, eventually you'd start to believe it, too. You opened up the car door and slid yourself inside with the brothers following in suit. Dean could lie to your face all you wanted, but you knew there was a special place in his heart for this home and Sonny. A possibility in your life that didn't turn out to be. A chance for normality that never came. For Sam it was his college years, and Dean it was here. While it never lasted long, the chance of getting a taste was sweet enough. Because what you wanted in the moment might not be the thing you really wanted after all. Something made all of you choose hunting instead of a normal life.

Sam had a hunch of what made Dean decide not to stay at Sonny's all those years ago and join him and John. Something Dean always chose. His older brother never once abandoned him over the years. He was always there for him, always wanting to look out for him. Dean made sacrifices the way a parent did. And never once over the years did he make Sam feel guilty over it. He did what he always did, protected him.

"Dean...thank you." Sam muttered two words he felt he didn't say enough to his brother. Dean's face slowly morphed into confusion at the compassion being thrown his way. He asked what for. "For always being there, for having my back. Look, I know it hasn't always been easy."

The car fell into silence at the heartfelt words Sam needed to say after understanding the importance of this place to his brother, even if he didn't want to say it. Dean swallowed at the shift in atmosphere. The heaviness of the guilt his brother must be feeling at the moment. In true Dean fashion, the man denied anything to help avoid a deeper conversation. "I don't know what the hell you're talking about."

You rolled your eyes at the man's response, not sure why you were expecting anything else from him. Dean turned on the engine and put the car into drive, sending the Impala forward and down the dirt path out of Sonny's ranch. You looked out the window to get one more good look at the place before turning your attention back to the road.

+ + +

There was never a better feeling than coming back to the bunker and unwinding after the rough hunt you had. Sam decided he wanted to tackle the book he wanted to read and headed off to the library, you decided not to delay the unpacking you needed to do and the laundry that was starting to pile up in your hamper. You threw your duffel bag to the bed and reached to unzip it. pulling out the dirty clothes and throwing them to the overflowing pile of others. You let out a quiet sigh of annoyance and debated with yourself if you really wanted to do this right now...

Lucky for you, a momentary distraction came to you when Dean stepped into your shared bedroom with his own overnight bag he threw over to the couch. You'd been meaning to talk to him about the hunt. You watched as he kicked off his shoes and jumped onto the bed, relaxation finally coming over him after the long drive. You joined him without needing to be asked, curling up to his side and taking the rightful place you loved to be. You didn't entertain small talk like how you normally did when you wanted to ask Dean persona questions like you normally did.

“I’ve been thinking...” You began.

“That’s never good.” Dean was quick to try and humor you with jokes that made him laugh, you responded with an eye roll like always.

"What do you think our lives would be like if we never met? If you never left Sonny’s?" You asked him the question that had been burning in the back of your mind for a while now. Dean could try and deny the truth all he wanted to you, but you knew him better than he knew himself. You sat up so you were staring at him in the eye to see his reaction from your question. "I know Sammy’s the reason why you really left.”

You watched as Dean opened his mouth to try and deny such a claim. You raised your brow slightly and waited for him to try and stop the conversation before it could go any further. He shot down all of you every time you tried to dig deeper into this part of his past. But it seemed he didn't want to deny anything with you. He let out a quiet sigh. "I couldn't leave the kid alone."

“That’s what makes you the best big brother, ever.” You mumbled, a smile spreading across your lips. “I could picture you turning out to be like Sonny. Having a home for little wayward boys, making them better people. Maybe settle down with Robin...be happy.”

“You think I’d settle down with Robin?” Dean teased you from the way you trailed off before finishing your sentence. Speaking words that almost sounded like they left a bad taste in your mouth from the thought alone of not having a life with him. “Are you jealous?”

“What? No!” You jumped a little too quickly to deny such a claim from him. You rolled your eyes when the smirk that spread across his lips grew a little wider at your reaction to his question. You reached out to fix the flannel he was wearing so it laid flat, using the few moments between your words to help formulate your thoughts better. “Far from it, actually. It was nice meeting someone from your face that wasn’t a hookup. I...I’m happy your life wasn’t that bad all the time.” You were now fidgeting with his buttons from what you said. “You got to have somewhat a normal life. Experience the awkwardness of being a teenager. Date a nice girl. Even if it only lasted a few months. It just makes me wonder what your life could have been if you stayed.”

“I never really thought about it.” Dean shrugged, giving you the honest truth. “Not recently, at least.”

You looked up at him after focusing on his shirt for a little while longer, asking another question. “Was she the first girl you got serious with?”

"Why'd you ask that?" Dean's expression changed into slight confusion at such an odd sounding question. You saw his brow scrunch together as he wondered to himself if you

were jealous. Not of what she was to him, but the fact that it wasn't you who gave him the teenage bliss of first dates and making out on porches. Stupid things every sixteen year old got to experience. Things you missed out on when you were his age.

“Because of the way you acted around her when you first saw her at the diner. You acted like you were more than old friends." You said. "You get this look in your eye when you're around girls who...gave you something you never really got to have."

“She made me understand what it was like to be a teenager. What relationships were like.” He said. “But she doesn’t compare to you. Not even by a long-shot.”

"I know our paths were supposed to cross and all that crap, but sometimes I wonder what things would be like if we were just...normalish.” You said. “What if we never met back up as teenagers? We might have gone our entire lives not knowing each other. You really might have become a famous rockstar. I could have been an adoring fan of yours!”

"Would have you been one of those groupies who'd do anything to get backstage to meet the singer?" Dean asked, wiggling his brow to prove his point. You quietly laughed at the way his mind always seemed to wander. "Do you think you would have gone to college and live the life the way your mom wanted if we never met?"

“Mmm, perhaps. Maybe I’d settle down with some schmuck and live some boring life.” You quietly laughed at the thought of having the American dream most people craved to have. A boring job with a white picket fence and a spouse they’d most likely divorce in ten years. “I can picture myself having some lame career. Pop out a few kids. Definitely would have a dog…I mean, how can I not?”

“We’re not getting a dog. Or a cat. You know my allergies wouldn’t handle it.” He quickly shot down your idea of adding a furry pet into your family when you looked at him the way you were right now. You still were a bit bummed since you wrapped up the case with the Colonel a few weeks back. You’d do anything to give him a proper home, but you knew that it was impossible with the life you lead. “Sammy’s kind of like a dog. He’s hairy enough. And Kevin’s like a cat. He never leaves and sometimes roams from room to room.”

“You’re terrible.” You lightly whacked Dean in the chest at his horrible joke that made you smile. He chuckled to himself and titled his head to the side that you found adorable. For some reason you found yourself staring into his eyes, a rush of emotions came over you. Sometimes it happened when the light hit him just right or he was simply doing something mundane. It was the realization that Dean was the man you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. He was your soulmate, your better half. Even if he was a bit of an idiot sometimes. He was all yours. And fate had led you together. “I love you, Dean.”

“I love you, too, sweetheart.” He whispered back to you. He leaned down slightly to give you a sweet and simple peck on the lips. “And don’t you forget that.”

“I won’t.” You promised him. “Not ever.”

Maybe that’s why he kept this of his past a secret for all these years. John told Sam that his older brother got lost on a hunt because it was just easier for everyone. Sam wouldn’t understand why John couldn’t pick his brother back up from this place. You bet that even at twelve years old Sam butted heads with his father.

And Dean never told the truth because...because this place was something that made him think for a second that the life he had wasn’t what he wanted. He could’ve changed it around and never looked back. He could’ve gone to that dance like a normal teenager and continued on with Robin. He could’ve finished up school and possibly went off to college. Learn guitar from and become a big rockstar. Or go to college and study engineering. Dean was smart, much as he doubted himself at times. There was an opportunity to change his life around and stay with someone who cared for him and gave the right kind of tough love he needed at times. And he would’ve done it, only if he was an only child. Maybe if Sam was a few years older and was able to take care of himself on his own.

Dean’s life could have gone in a million different directions if he wanted All of your lives could have. The one he was given was tough and unbearable at times. He suffered too much grief and constantly had a crisis that needed solving. But the good outweighed the bad. If his life didn’t go the way it did, he wouldn’t have met you. Or Cas. And few people he called friends. Dean learned that his life, good or bad, was his own to control after all the crap he dealt with before in the past. It wasn’t perfect, God knows that, but it was his. He was able to do anything he wanted. And the realization made him think back to what he said about you to Robin when she asked if you and him were married. Not yet...but soon. He hoped very soon.

[Next Part]

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blogbuddy2 · 3 years

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Blog 3: Tales Along the Senescent Trail: Part 3

"At my age, flowers scare me." —George Burns

Damn! I couldn’t stop shaking. It was cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey!* I tried hugging myself, but it didn’t help much. The icy wind blew past with a shriek and a deathly caress colder than my evil stepmother’s last kiss. We slammed the front door shut and teetered forward into the frigid air,

We rolled into a frozen February for the hour-long trip to the hospital in Gainesville. Dr. M insisted that we get there early, but, I mean, getting up a four-thirty in the morning is kinda—no, it’s real early, even for a former Marine. I hadn’t had to get up this early since my days in boot camp on the rifle range at Parris Island.

Even so, I stretched a yawn and stepped carefully towards the white Colorado, taking note of the icy brick patio.

“You’d better take my arm,” I told her. June wasn’t as nimble as she used to be. We called it the Bashir shuffle, after watching an episode on Star Trek Deep Space Nine when the station’s doctor, Julian Bashir, was hexed by an alien and began to age rapidly. At the end of the episode, he was talking in a high-pitched voice and taking little tee-tiny shuffling steps. We got such a kick out of it, we named his gait the “Bashir shuffle.”

It’s not so funny now.

In any case, it was too early and too cold for a couple of old coffin-dodgers like us to be wandering around. I mean, a slip could mean a busted hip, a cracked skull, or worse. It was bad enough that I had to go so Dr. M could “take a look in there” to see what was going on.

I made a fist with my right hand and unconsciously started lightly tapping on my upper chest. I stopped for a moment to catch my balance. My heart started racing. I could feel the slowly tightening chest constriction take hold.

“Hold up a minute, Momsie.” I steadied myself against her, and she gave me a quick worried look.

It was that old familiar painful squeeze--angina.

Years ago, in the beginning, there was no pain, only an immeasurable slowing down and a faint feeling of all-encompassing tiredness. Even the smallest incline taxed my physical abilities. I hardly even noticed it at first, but then there were the episodes.

In one instance, after cutting three-fourths of the front yard, I started to feel weak. I could hardly even push the self-propelled mower or keep it in a straight line. I stopped and leaned over the handles to catch my breath. I felt faint and clutched tightly at the bar.

“Are you okay?” Momsie hooted from the porch where she had been sitting, watching.

I didn’t answer. I couldn’t answer. Suddenly I couldn’t breathe good.

She stood up and hollered for Nghia, one of my students, who was working on wooden dummies in the back. Nghia shot out the front door at the sound of urgency in her voice. He was a strapping young Vietnamese boy and always seemed to know what people were thinking by the sound in their voices.

She pointed at me and shouted, “Help him!!”

Nghia came scrambling down the hill. It looked real easy for a sixteen-year-old, but he was lanky and real strong.

He grabbed me by the shoulders with one arm and by my belt with the other as he helped me back up the driveway, through the front door, and into the recliner on the other side of the living room.

They hovered over me like a pair of helicopter parents until I felt the hotness and the pain recede out of sight into the center of my chest. The thumping was not as wild and scary as before.

“We’re taking you to the emergency room right now!” Momsie cried.

“No. Not yet. It’ll pass.”

It would take a more serious episode to break my stubbornness.

============================================

* In the British Navy, they would stack cannonballs on a brass plate with holes (aka a monkey). If it were cold enough, the holes in the plate would contract to the point that the bottom balls could no longer rest in the holes and rolled loose, and thus the term, “it's frozen the balls off.” This became common marine terminology and morphed into sailor slang as “it’s cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey” when referencing uncommonly icy weather.

#angina #health #old age #heart disease #widow maker

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p-artsypants · 3 years

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Longest Night (50) Celebrating

Here we go! The last chapter! And it’s a doozy!

I don’t know about the rest of you guys, but I grew up calling all of my parents friend’s ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’. Some of them I still do. Which was really fun when I dated a family friend and kept calling his mom ‘Aunt Julie’. We are not related. Fun times!

Also, there’s some nicknames in this chapter. “Peepums” is Tom. “Nonnie Cheng” is Sabine. And “Nonna Gina” is Tom’s mom. You know how grandparents all have their weird nicknames.

Ao3 | FF.net

20 years later

—

When Marinette awoke that morning, she was alone in bed. It wasn’t that odd. Adrien had always been an early riser, but this was a different reason than just that.

But she didn’t worry. It was best just to leave things the way they were.

Dressing in a robe, she went downstairs to start making breakfast. The kids were old enough to get ready on their own now, and as long as they were down before 7, she didn’t bug them.

The first into the kitchen was the youngest, Emma. A complete girly-girl and lover of all things pink and fashionable. Even at 12, she had her own sophisticated sense of style (party cultivated by her grandfather). She danced in her pink dress and adorable white flats. “What do you think, mama? Perfect for career day? Do I look like a professional?”

“Of course you do, sweetheart.”

She beamed. “Where’s papa?”

“Oh, uh, I’m not sure. He couldn’t sleep last night, so he went for patrol. He hasn’t been back yet.”

Emma frowned hard. “He’ll be there for career day though, right?”

“He wouldn’t miss it for the world! But Peepums and Grandfather Gabriel are going to be there too.”

“Is Peepums bringing treats?”

“I would assume so. He never passes up a chance to bring snacks. Now, I’m making crepes, you want one or two?”

“Just one, mama.”

“Alright.”

The next down the stairs was the oldest (by two minutes) Hugo. “Morning mama,” he smiled brightly.

“There’s my birthday boy! Feel any older?”

“No, but I feel wiser!” He joked, as he jumped on the stool by the counter.

“Where’s Louis?”

“Stuck in the toilet.”

“And you mean that figuratively, right?”

He shrugged. “What’s for breakfast?”

“Crepes, blueberry, your favorite.”

“Yes! I want five!”

“You can have three, I don’t want you to get a tummy ache before school.”

“Lame! Bring on the crepes!” He pounded his fists on the counter.

“Three, and then if you aren’t stuffed, I’ll consider more.”

Then came the unmistakable sound of a body slowly falling down the stairs, before a dark haired teen crawled across the floor and collapsed next to his mother’s legs.

“Ah, Birthday boy part 2. Welcome to the land of the living!”

“It should be a crime to have to wake up early on your birthday.” Said the boy, face flat against the ground.

“You truly are my child,” said Marinette with a smile.

“Where’s pops?” Asked Hugo, digging into his second crepe.

“Out on patrol.”

This caused Louis to stir and look up. “Did something happen?”

“No, he just couldn’t sleep.”

Hugo frowned. “Nightmares again? He’s been having those a lot lately.”

“Yeah. I’m not sure why he’s having them. But you kids don’t need to worry about it.”

“Are we still okay for our party tomorrow?”

“Of course!” Marinette beamed. “Even if papa wasn’t feeling great, we’d still have it! Aunt Chloe reserved the rooftop pool for you, after all.”

“…I’m so excited,” said the child on the floor, with no enthusiasm. “You just can’t tell right now.”

“Well, you’re not going to get any rest on the floor. Sit in your seat and eat your crepe. I’ll make a little coffee.”

“…yay…”

—

Emma bounced nervously in her seat. She was flanked by Tom and Gabriel, who had both already presented for career day.

The day was almost over, and her father hadn’t shown.

“It’s okay, my little cupcake.” Tom assured, petting her blonde hair. “He’ll be here.”

“And if he doesn’t make it,” added Gabriel, “It wasn’t because he didn’t want to. He’s probably out there stopping a criminal, saving lives. I know you’re the most important thing in the world to him.”

Emma nodded, believing both of her grandfathers, but also not wanting to be one without a dad on career day.

Through the years, Emma had gotten used to her father’s unpredictable behavior. He loved her to the end of the world and back, and would move mountains for her if he could. And most days, it really really showed.

But some days, he just wasn’t…there. Emotionally, spiritually, or like today, physically. Her mother had similar episodes, but mostly in mood swings. She got angry sometimes, seemingly over nothing. Never directed at Emma or her brothers, thankfully, but Emma knew that there was something different about her parents.

She knew the story. She had been told pieces of it growing up, but never allowed to watch the footage. Mama and Papa had been kidnapped and tortured, because they were superheroes, and they were never the same after. The details were vague, and she was told it would be too scary for her to handle every time she asked. But she saw the scars, heard her father’s screams at night.

Most days, she didn’t want to know.

“Alright! I think that’s everyone!” Miss Bustier called. “Thank you all for participating in our career day! It’s awesome that we have such a wide range of jobs just in this very room!”

Emma deflated. Her father really wasn’t coming.

Tom laid a giant hand on her head and rubbed.

But then, there was a knock at the window.

“Chat Noir?” Miss Bustier asked.

The man in black waved as she opened the window.

“So so sorry I’m late!” He apologized, hopping into the room. “I caught a robber, and I walked him down to the police station and we had to do all this paperwork—“

“Papa!” Emma shouted, leaping over her desk. She ran to him, and threw her arms around him in a crushing hug. “You made it!”

“Just in time it seems,” he laughed, hugging her back. “I’m sorry I’m late. Can you forgive me?”

“Of course! Come on, it’s your turn to present!” She took his hand and led him up to the front of the room. “Everyone, this is my dad, Chat Noir! He’s a superhero!”

—

The next day was Saturday, and Marinette was full of stress up to her neck. She paced poolside, as her family helped set up for the party.

“Alright, Nino’s on music, Alya’s on Emma duty, Chloe covered catering, mom and dad have the cake, Gabriel and Emilie have decorations…what am I missing?”

“My Lady, you’ve gone over this list a hundred times. We’re fine.”

“Drinks! I forgot the drinks!”

Adrien pointed over at the bar. “Luka and Kagami are on drinks, remember? Luka’s making his mimosas for the adults.”

“Oh, right.” Then she pointed at him. “No alcohol, alright? Not with your medication.”

“Oh come on, these are Luka’s mimosas! I’m gonna get krunk!”

“Dad’s gonna get krunk?” Asked Hugo, from the pool.

“No one is getting krunk!” Marinette poked Adrien in the chest. “Look what you started!”

“I’m only teasing.” Adrien laughed, taking his wife’s hand. “Relax My Lady, it’s a party, a sweet 16 party! Everyone’s here to have fun. And they will as long as we relax.”

Marinette got close, whispering conspiratorially, “that’s just the thing! Do you remember our sweet sixteen parties?”

“Well...I didn’t have a party,” Adrien shrugged. “You, Alya, and Nino helped me escape the house and we went to the movies.”

“Yeah, and they spent the whole time making out, so you and I just sat there awkwardly.”

“I think I put my arm around you,” he grinned. “My very good friend.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“And your sixteenth...was that the year that Lila told everyone it was on a different day?”

“And you were the only one who called to confirm it was on the original day, and so you were the only one that showed? Yep, that’s the one. I cried on you for 15 minutes when I realized no one else was coming.”

“I mean, yeah, that sucked, but we still had fun with your family.”

“My point is, this is Hugo and Louis’ sixteenth birthday. I want them to have a good one, to have what we couldn’t have.”

“You have their gifts in your purse, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Then I wouldn’t worry about it. Their friends and family are coming, everything looks good, so just relax.”

Marinette took a deep sigh. “You’re right, my love. Whatever happens, happens, and we’ve done all we can.”

“The party will be fine, Mom.” Said Louis from a lounge chair.

“Ah! Louis? Why aren’t you in the pool?”

“I’m perfectly content just relaxing here. I’ll get hot soon enough and go in the pool.”

“Are you sure?”

Adrien wrapped an arm around his wife. “Marinette, let him alone. He’s fine. You know he’s our introvert.”

“Mama! Papa!” Emma called, running towards them from the hotel elevator. “Look at the swimsuit grandfather Gabriel got me!” She twirled, letting the shimmery, glittery greens, teals, and purples swirl in a kaleidoscope of color. “I look like a mermaid!”

“You sure do, Princess!” Adrien beamed.

Emma squealed in delight before running back to Alya.

“See? All of our kids are enjoying themselves. The guests are slowly trickling in...” he gestured to the elevator where more classmates with gifts arrived. “And no catastrophes yet.”

“Fine fine, Kitty, I get it. I’ll have a mimosa and lighten up.”

“Have one for me too!” He called after, as she headed to the bar.

Soon, the guests arrived. Hugo and Louis had invited their entire class of 18 kids. Some parents stayed to help with chaperoning, and some even brought younger siblings that were friends with Emma.

It was turning out to be a real shin-dig.

So far, Marinette felt at ease. The four parents that had stayed were mostly just hanging out at the bar, but the kids were in the pool, and no one was drowning.

Louis still reclined on the lounger, sunning himself.

“You're still doing okay over here, kiddo?”

“Mom, I’m doing so okay. So okay, it’s ridiculous. Nonna Gina brought me over a virgin mimosa, cause everyone’s talking about them. I feel like I’m on vacation.”

“As long as you’re content, I’m happy. Just wanted to make sure you weren’t feeling left out.”

“Nah,” he waved her off. “I will go swimming, but I’m going to wait until after eating.”

“Okay, kiddo.”

Seeing Hugo happily enthralled in a cannonball contest, and Louis sunning himself like a cat, she decided to check in with her youngest. Though she saw Alya at the bar talking to Kagami, and Emma nowhere in sight.

This used to make her panic immediately. None of her kids were especially hyper or rambunctious. They didn’t run off on their own, especially without letting her know.

But there was still a fear, still a niggling doubt in the back of her head that said ‘what if’?

As calm as possible, she approached the adults at the bar, and asked Alya. “Have you seen Emma?”

“She ran down to the lobby to use the bathroom,” Alya answered casually.

“Alone?”

“Yeah, Marinette, she’s 12. She can handle going to the bathroom alone.” It was a reassurance, no judgement. Because sometimes, Adrien and Marinette needed a reminder that their children were well adjusted and had plenty of common sense.

Marinette knew that. And it wasn’t the bathroom part she was concerned about. It was the trip down to the lobby by herself.

She heard a father speak softly, “for superheroes, they are certainly overprotective of their kids. Kind of feel sorry for them.”

Marinette nodded at Alya, and retreated sheepishly. Was her paranoia ruining her children’s lives?

“What’s with that look, My Lady?” Adrien asked, softly, sipping on his drink.

“Sorry, sorry, I just…overheard something I shouldn’t dwell on.” She looked at the drink in his hands, narrowing her eyes.

“It’s virgin!” He handed it to her. “I promised I was going to quit. Getting plastered at our kid’s birthday would be the worst time for them to find out I have a problem.”

“It’s not a problem yet, but that’s why I want you to stop. So it doesn’t become one.”

“Hey! Let go Isaac!” Louis’ voice carried over the water. Instantly, Marinette and Adrien were alert and looked to see a larger boy pulling Louis toward the pool by the arm.

“Hey!” Marinette called out. “Let him go! If he doesn’t want to go swimming, don’t force him!”

“Oh come on, Lady!” The father from the bar shouted over to her. “What’s the point in having a pool party for your boys if they aren’t even going to go swimming!?”

SPLASH

Louis surfaced with a gasp, and then a defeated “aw man!”

“Are you okay kiddo?” Marinette asked. “You didn’t have your phone on you, right?”

“No, I’m fine.” He took off his soaked shirt and dropped it on the edge of the pool with a loud plop. “Just…didn’t want to get wet yet.”

“Dude, come on Isaac, don’t be such a turd!” Hugo chastised.

“He looked lonely!” Isaac argued.

“Whatever,” Louis said, defeated. “Just…don’t dunk me, okay?”

“No promises!”

Adrien frowned at the exchange as Louis swam over closer to his brother. “Isaac, Isaac, why is that name familiar? Is that the kid that’s been picking on Louis? Why is he here?”

“Oh,” Marinette smacked her head. “That’s what they were asking about!”

“What? Who?”

“A few weeks ago, the boys were asking me questions about what to do about a classmate people don’t get along with. They asked if they should include them in the party if they were inviting the rest of the class. I told them that would be the right thing to do, but I didn’t realize they were talking about Louis’ bully!” She groaned. “And it looks like the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” She glared at Isaac’s dad at the bar.

Adrien smiled over at the pool. Both Hugo and Louis were laughing and seemed to be having a good time. It seemed Louis was already over his impromptu dunking. “Our kids are resilient. It’ll take more than that to bring them down.”

“They are strong.” Marinette breathed. “Stronger than me.”

It was then that Emma returned. “Hi mama, I’m back. Aunt Alya said I should check in with you because you were worried? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you where I was going.”

Marinette smiled at her. “It’s fine Emma. You told Aunt Alya, so someone knew. You just know I’m a basket case.”

Emma frowned at her mom. “You’re not a basket case. You’re just...worried?”

“Does that bother you? Do I make you feel trapped or smothered?”

Adrien stared at his wife in horror. Likewise, so did Emma. “No! Not at all!” She hugged her around the waist and added, “Nonnie Cheng worries about where I am too. She says it’s because you went missing, and it’s scared her ever since. I don’t want to scare you, mom.”

Marinette hugged Emma tightly and said, “I have the best kids in the world.”

“In that case,” Emma grinned. “Can I have some soda?”

“Sure, just tell Aunt Kagami what you want.”

“Thanks mom!” She beamed and scurried off.

“And no running!” Marinette called after. “Girl’s got my clumsy streak. She’ll break her neck.”

“Crisis averted it seems.” Said Adrien.

“For now,” Marinette narrowed her eyes. “But Ladybug never rests!”

Adrien pecked his wife on the lips. “Someone has to be responsible.”

“Hey pops!” Hugo called from the pool.

“What’s up?”

“We’re going to do a diving contest! You should join!”

“Yeah!”

“Come on Mr. Dupain-Cheng!”

“Show us some Chat Noir style!”

Marinette nudged him. “Go ahead. Show those kids how it’s done.”

He smirked. “Okay okay.” He took off his shirt and laid it on the lounger by their bags. Then he entered the pool from the shallow end, coming up behind the kids. “How does this diving contest work?”

“It’s easy!” Said Hugo, “we’re going to take turns coming up with unique ways to jump in the pool. Winner is the best technique, or most creative.”

“I got one!” Said a chubby kid. He climbed out of the pool and up on the diving board.

“Make room!” Someone called. “Cannon ball champion on the loose!”

“This is called ‘The Patrick Star’!” He bounced twice, getting real air before leaping out, parallel with the water, arms and legs spread out like a starfish.

And he collided with the water with a resounding clap, making everyone go, ‘ooo!’

The kid surfaced, his entire frontside pink. “Ow.”

The rest of the class laughed at him.

One by one, classmates would come up with a dive, though most were a lot more elegant than the first.

“I call this, ‘The Ladybug’.” A girl said. She ran and jumped, twisting in the air while throwing her arm, mimicking Ladybug’s yo-yo. She managed to say “bug out!” Before she hit the water. Marinette whistled. “She’s got my vote!”

“Come on, Pops,” said Hugo. “It’s your turn!”

“I don’t have a—“

“Just make something up! Go go!”

Adrien pulled himself out of the pool and headed toward the diving board, aware of the people watching, curious.

This was his twin boys’ special day. He had to be impressive. He had to be the cool dad.

He took a running start, falling into a front flip as he hit the diving board. His adult weight bowed the board with force, sending him up into the air. He curled tightly into a ball, using the momentum to rotate three times, before coming out of the ball and diving seamlessly into the water.

When he surfaced, the crowd of kids were going wild. They screamed and chanted “Dad! Dad! Dad!”

Obviously started by his boys.

Adrien beamed as he treaded water. Being Chat Noir was great, even with all the pain it had brought him. But being his kid’s hero was the absolute best.

But everything came to a screeching halt as Isaac, the butthole kid, let out a loud, “EWWW!!” Grabbing everyone’s attention. “What’s wrong with your dad’s back!? It’s all gross!”

Adrien slammed his eyes shut, all at once feeling self-conscious. But this was just a dumb teenager. Maybe he didn’t know any better. But before he could gather himself to calmly explain his scars, his boys spoke up for him.

“It’s scarring, you jerk,” said Louis.

“He got it from being a superhero, when he was just two years older than we are!” Added Hugo.

Isaac scoffed, “Chat Noir and Ladybug aren’t real superheroes! Not like the ones in America! All they do is rescue cats from trees and show up for charity events. They don’t even do anything anymore!”

Adrien sloppily backtracked, reaching out for the edge of the pool.

“Just yesterday, he caught a robber! That’s not nothing!” Hugo defended.

“Oh yeah?” Said Isaac, “My dad said that they used to fight supervillains, but they couldn’t stop the guy responsible for them! He said they’re losers and failures!”

“Hey Jean,” said one of the parents. “Tell your kid to shut up.”

Isaac’s father took a chug from his beer and shrugged. “Someone had to say it.”

“Monsieur,” said Ladybug with god-like patience. “I suggest you and your son leave. I don’t feel the need to play host to someone who could be so hateful and misinformed.”

“Misinformed?” The man, Jean, scoffed. “I was there. I saw the stream back then. I remember what it was like. The weekly akumas, classes and events always cancelled. The only reason they stopped is because Hawkmoth gave up. I don’t think you guys should be getting recognition anymore. Sorry, not sorry.”

“Mom?” Louis called from the pool.

Jean frowned, continuing. “The rest of us have to make a living working hard, every day. You and your husband just put on some skin tight leather and prance around. Now you’re set for life. It’s disgusting.”

“Hey man, if you don’t like it, you can leave,” said Alya. “No one invited you. I heard your son was only invited out of obligation.”

“Mom!” Louis called again.

“Marinette and Adrien suffered enough for a lifetime. Every day is a struggle! How dare you say otherwise!”

“MOM!” Louis screamed.

Marinette whipped her head over to the pool, seeing Adrien struggling to keep his head above water. Louis and Hugo were holding him up. She hurried over. “What happened? What’s wrong?”

“He’s having an attack!”

Tom rushed over, reaching his hands under Adrien’s arms, and pulled him out of the pool. He tried to set him on his feet, but he kept leaning forward, trying to lay down. His eyes were wide, but unfocused, as his breaths came rapidly.

Marinette tugged on his arm. “Come on, Kitty. Not here.” She called over to Chloe. “Is there a room we can borrow for a second?”

“Follow me!”

Louis broke off from the group, but Hugo and Marinette were quick to escort Adrien away from the party.

“Mom?” Emma asked, right as they were about to get on the elevator.

“It’s okay, Honey. Dad just needs a minute. Stay behind with Aunt Alya, okay?”

Emma nodded, though didn’t look convinced.

Chloe showed them to her room, where she quickly got a towel for Adrien to wrap up in.

Hugo and Marinette eased him down to sit on the couch. There, he slumped, his head resting on the back of the couch.

Louis found their room, cup in hand. “I brought a coke. I know that usually helps.”

Marinette sighed in relief. “Thank you baby,” she took the cup from him and put it in Adrien’s hand, then helped him take a sip.

They sat for a while, watching Adrien breathe slowly and take occasional sips from his drink.

“I’m so sorry boys,” Marinette looked to them sadly. “We didn’t mean to ruin your birthday.”

Hugo frowned at her. “What? You guys didn’t ruin anything. Isaac’s the one that pooped on our party.”

“Yeah,” added Louis, “and we were having a great time up until now. Don’t worry about it mom.”

Adrien very shakily brought the cup towards his face, and Marinette was quick to help, so he didn’t spill. “Dad’s going to be fine,” she explained. “Why don’t you boys get back to the party?”

“If it’s okay, I’d like to wait until dad feels a little better. I’d feel guilty if I left,” said Louis.

“Me too,” said Hugo. “And I need a few minutes to calm down to keep from punching Isaac in the face. What he said was dumb. He has no idea what you guys do.”

“…it shouldn’t have bothered me…” Adrien said, softly.

“Dad?”

“I’m okay,” he took a deep exhale. “Just…lost myself for a moment.”

Hugo hugged him tightly around the shoulders. “Love you, dad. Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m sorry for scaring you boys…and your friends. But I’ll be alright now.”

“You recovered pretty quickly,” Marinette noted.

“It’s because I have my big strong boys with me.” He wrapped his arms around his sons. “There was nothing to worry about.”

Except, there was.

Alya burst into the room, Chloe behind her, with a look of panic.

“Marinette, come quickly!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“It’s Emma! She’s been akumatized!!”

—

As Emma watched her father be rushed out of the party, a stone fell into her gut. No matter how often this happened, no matter how good they got at catching the attacks, it still scared her when it happened.

She was torn between wanting to be with him, and not wanting to see that vacant expression on his face. Her mother said it was a coping mechanism he developed a long time ago, when they had been kidnapped. He just switched his brain off when he got overwhelmed, as to not experience pain. It only happened a few times a year, only in super stressful situations where he thought about his torture.

Emma wiped at her face as she looked over the party. Alya was chastising the adult man that had talked bad about her father, and Hugo and Louis’ friends were ripping into the kid that started the whole mess.

Everyone was angry and yelling.

“Emma?” Gabriel asked, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Are you alright, dear?”

“Oh, Grandfather…” She sniffed. “I’m just…scared.”

“Your father will be alright. It’s nothing physical, it’s just a mental state.”

“I know…” She screwed up her lips. “But I’m scared people are going to keep saying that stuff to him. Mom acts like I’m too young to understand what’s happening…but people are forgetting that they are real superheroes, and they act like they’re mascots. I’m scared this is going to happen again.” She rubbed at her damp eyes. “He doesn’t deserve it. Neither of them do.”

“You really love your parents, don’t you?”

“Of course! They’re the best!”

“Then, I have a plan. Would you be willing to help?”

“Of course, what is it?”

“Come with me, we’ll speak in private.”

Curious, Emma followed Gabriel into the hotel, down to a conference room. He locked the door behind them.

“You remember our little secret?”

“That I know you were Hawkmoth?”

“Yes. My plan requires me to come out of retirement, just this once…and to akumatize you.”

She looked startled. “You want to turn me into a supervillain?”

“Only if you agree to it, dear.” He pet her hair. “My goal is to make you a supervillain, so you can terrorize Paris and remind them of what Ladybug and Chat Noir used to do. I’ll be able to see through your eyes, so I can stop and undo any damage if something goes wrong.”

Emma crossed her arms. “You’d make mom and dad fight me?”

“Not fight you, rescue you.”

She frowned again, thinking about it. Then she nodded. “Let’s do it!”

Gabriel smiled at her, and opened his sports jacket, where Nooroo was hiding. “Nooroo, Dark Wings rise!”

In a flash of purple light, Hawkmoth had returned. Inside his cane, a little white butterfly fluttered.

Emma danced on her toes. “What kind of powers are you going to give me? I want to be pretty!”

He chuckled at her eagerness. “Of course, my sweet Emma.” He evilized the butterfly, and then coaxed it into the paw print bracelet she was wearing.

A purple mask appeared on her face.

“Mermaidia, I’m giving you the power of the seas. You may travel through any body of water, and turn those that oppose you into sea creatures. In exchange, you must give Chat Noir and Ladybug a taste of nostalgia. Do you accept these terms?”

“Absolutely, Hawkmoth.”

The dark purple fog encompassed Emma, turning the sweet blonde girl into a real mermaid, with purple hair, shimmering scales, and an abundance of glittering gold and jewels. In her hand, she held a trident.

Hawkmoth took a bottle of water from the table, and poured it on the floor.

Mermaidia stepped into the puddle, and disappeared.

—

“Regardless if you feel like you’re right, it’s still your opinion. And an opinion doesn’t give you the right to be an asshole, especially to people who are hosting this party!” Shouted Alya.

The rest of the parents were quietly watching the exchange, not really wanting to get involved. But they were also paying attention to a similar argument in the pool.

“You are a grown adult and a parent. It’s your job to teach your kid respect and kindness, two qualities I haven’t seen from him today.”

“Look lady, I know you’re friends with the Dupain-Cheng’s and all, but come on. It doesn’t bother you that they don’t work at all? What’s the point of them calling themselves superheroes anyway? They should just hang up the suits and get real jobs.”

“They. Can’t.” Alya emphasized. “Did you not just see what happened to Adrien? What if he was working and he had an attack? What then, smart guy?”

“He won’t have attacks if he was doing something with his life!”

“They are full time parents, and full time heroes! They do more than just ‘rescue cats and make celebrity appearances at charity events’! How can you be so ignorant?!”

“What did you call me!?”

Screams came from the pool, and the argument halted.

Mermaidia had made her appearance.

“I am Mermaidia! You all have grown too soft and comfortable! I’m here to remind you what it was like back when there were akuma!” She laughed, pointed her trident, and turned a child into a fish.

The party descended into madness, as Mermaidia shot rapidly. None of the teens in the pool escaped, and all turned into various fish and sea creatures.

Isaac turned into a starfish, and Emma stuck him to her arm. “You’re coming with me. I want you to see how wrong you were.”

Several adults had tried to escape as well, but Mermaidia stopped them in their run.

Only those who knew the identity of Hawkmoth, or were previous Miraculous users didn’t panic. Rather, they stood staring, confused. Alya backed away carefully, and escaped into the hotel. Whether Emma purposely let her go or not, she would never know.

“Emma?” Asked Sabine.

“I’m not Emma anymore, I’m Mermaidia!” She turned Isaac’s father into another starfish, and stuck him on her other arm. “You mocked my parents, but now, they’re the only ones that can save you! Ahahaha!”

“Emma, stop.” Tom demanded. “You’re a good girl. We can’t let what people say get to us. People will always have their opinions that we disagree with, but we can’t take it personally.”

“But I can take this personally!” She shouted back. “My father is the greatest man alive, and no one will doubt that when I’m through! Just you see!”

She turned the rest of the assembled party goers into creatures, before leaping into the pool and disappearing.

—

Ladybug, Chat Noir, Alya, Chloe, Louis, and Hugo all returned to the party, only to find a bunch of fish.

“What the…?”

“She’s called Mermaidia,” Alya clarified. “She’s turned everyone into sea creatures. She appeared from the water, so I think she can transport through liquid.”

“She totally can, dude,” said a sea turtle from the pool.

“Nino?” Asked Chat Noir.

“Cha dude, what do you think? Pretty fitting for me, huh?”

“Are you okay?”

“Totally. All the little dudes are too.” He gestured to the fish in the pool.

“Emma turned the kid and his dad who started the argument into starfish.” Said a sea-snake. “They’re on her arms. So be careful when you attack.”

“Luka?”

“Yep.”

“Where’s my mom and dad?”

“Over here!” Called a walrus. There was a crab next to him, waving a claw. “We’re fine, honey. Just save Emma!”

“Next question,” Said Ladybug, wielding her yo-yo angrily. “Where’s Gabriel?”

Chat Noir rested a hand on her shoulder. “Let’s focus on saving Emma, and then we’ll find him.”

She sighed. “You’re right, as always, kitty. However, I think we might need some help with this akuma.” She opened her yo-yo and reached inside, pulling out two octagonal boxes. Then she turned to Hugo and Louis. “I hoped to give you your presents later, and hoped you wouldn’t ever have to use them. But desperate times come desperate measures.”

Hugo and Louis smiled at each other, with excitement.

“Louis, my wise, observant, and cunning child, this is the Miraculous of the Snake. With it, you can turn back time an infinite amount of times in a five minute duration. You will use it for the greater good.”

“Sweet.”

“And Hugo, my brave, bold, and exuberant child, this is the Miraculous of the Turtle. With it, you can create an impenetrable shield. You will use it for the greater good.”

“Yes!”

“Louis, to transform, simply say ’Sass, Scales Slither.’ And Hugo, your phrase is ‘Wayzz, Shell On’.”

“Sass, Scales Slither!”

“Wayzz, Shell On!”

A flash of green and teal, and the boys were turned into superheroes. They high fived each other.

“The Reptile Boyz are back in town!” Hugo cheered.

“Really? ‘Boyz’ with a ‘Z’?” Chat Noir asked flatly.

“It’s cool, old man!” Said Louis.

“Alright team, let’s focus,” Ladybug said, a bit too fondly for the situation at hand. She took out her yo-yo, and looked for intel. There was a special report live from Nadja Chamack.

“—Mermaidia is the first Akuma in 20 years! It was thought that Hawkmoth had retired, but it seems he has one ace left up his sleeve. The akuma was last spotted at the Luxembourg park! Hopefully, Ladybug and Chat Noir are on their way! Again, this is a real akuma, so it is advised to stay indoors and away from water!”

“She’s at the park! Let’s go!”

—

This wasn’t nearly as scary as Emma thought it would be. In fact, she was having a lot of fun. Hawkmoth did advise her that she would be influenced by her anger, but that really didn’t seem to bother her. It was really fun to turn people into sea creatures.

Though, she did feel really guilty when she hit people that were crying in fear.

But that’s what her parents were here for! To undo all this! It was fine!

“I am Mermaidia! And Ladybug and Chat Noir are your only chance for salvation!”

“Now now Emma,” Chat Noir spoke from behind. “Go easy on us. We’re a little wet behind the ears.”

Emma had to stomp down the urge to run and hug her father, and instead declared. “There you are, Ladybug and Chat Noir! Ready to do battle?”

Ladybug simply crossed her arms. “If you don’t give up your akuma, you’re grounded.”

Mermaidia stomped her foot. “You can’t ground me if you can’t catch me!” And she leapt into the fountain.

“She’s escaping!” Cried Hugo.

“Quick, fan out! Look for sources of water, and call as soon as you get sight of her!”

—

This was not Hugo or Louis’ first time using a Miraculous. Every once in a while, Marinette and Adrien would allow the children to pick one out to try, and then they’d have a family game of tag out on the Paris rooftops. The rules were to stay safe, and to not allow the media to take pictures. And at the first sign of danger, they were supposed to go home and let Mom and Dad handle it.

So the boys were familiar with their powers, but boy, they were not ready for the anxiety of an Akuma attack.

They may have been older, but Emma was still the reigning champion of tag.

“Find anything?” Louis asked, crossing his brother.

“Not a scale,” said Hugo. “Have you activated your Second Chance yet?”

“No, but I will the second we find her. Then if she escapes, we can just reverse time.”

“Smart.” Then, Hugo’s eyes caught on something in the river. “Huh?”

“What?”

“How often do you think whales go down the Seine?”

“Uh…never?”

“There she is! She’s on top of it!” Hugo activated his distress beacon on his shield, making sure to keep up with Emma, but also stay out of sight.

“We have to play this carefully. She can literally jump into the water and disappear at any second.”

“Not if there’s no water to disappear into,” said Chat Noir, appearing from nowhere.

Hugo resisted a scream. “D-Chat! You’re too sneaky!”

“I’ve been doing this a while, kiddo. Ladybug’s not here yet?”

“No, what’s the plan?”

“I have half a plan…”

“Then it’s a good thing I have half of one too!” Said Ladybug, finally joining them. “After you sent your signal, I called the French Waterway Commission and had them close the lock she’s on.”

“What did what the what?” Hugo asked.

“The river is made up of locks,” explained Louis, “chambers that fill and empty with water so boats can travel. The ground isn’t level, and the water level changes.”

“So Ladybug basically had them dam up the section Emma’s on right now,” said Chat.

“But she can still travel through water, so once she reaches the dam, she’ll just abandon ship, er, whale.” Hugo observed. “So then what?”

“Then we put my plan into action,” Chat cracked his knuckles, and stealthily made his way to the river bank.

Louis and Hugo watched in fascination as Chat called his Cataclysm and touched the water. In a boiling wave, it rolled quickly past Emma, evaporating as it went. It didn’t even have time to settle, just went up in a cloud of steam.

The whale that Emma was on run ashore, and she came to a halt. “What?”

“Nowhere to run now, little girl!” Ladybug called.

Mermaidia jumped from the back of the whale and landed in the sand. It wasn’t even damp. Chat had literally evaporated all the water in that section of the river.

“Second Chance!” Louis activated his bracelet. And just in time too, as Mermaidia shot a beam at Ladybug, and turned her into a dolphin. “Second Chance!”

Time restarted, and Louis shouted. “Ladybug, dive!”

Ladybug dove out of the way, missing the three shots Mermaidia took.

“I’m not going to take it easy on you just because you’re my mother!” Emma shouted. “So let’s show Paris what a real superhero looks like, hmm?”

“Oh you are so grounded when this is over, little lady!” She dodged another blast, and called for her Lucky Charm.

Hugo called for Shelter while she glanced around, looking for the purpose of the tennis racket her Miraculous had bestowed upon her.

Then it dawned on her.

A grounding wasn’t enough for her naughty child. Oh no. This called for the big guns.

The second Hugo’s Shelter faded, she shot out her yo-yo, catching Emma around the arms, and yanked her to lay across her leg. Hugo and Louis peeled the captive starfish off, while Chat took the trident. All the while Mermaidia wriggled around, fighting against the yo-yo string.

“No akuma in the trident, my lady.” Chat Noir shrugged.

“Oh, I’ll get it out of her.” Ladybug raised the tennis racket. “Where’s the akuma at, Emma?”

“This is cheating!”

“Okay, you asked for it.” And Ladybug brought the tennis racket down on her bottom, once, twice, three times before Emma cried out. “Okay okay! It’s in my bracelet! Stop! Stop!”

Chat broke the bracelet, freeing the butterfly, as Ladybug set her crying daughter down in the sand.

She caught and purified the butterfly, and removed everyone from the bank of the river before casting her cure.

Emma Dupain-Cheng returned, pouting, and still rubbing her behind. “I was just trying to help…”

“Where’s your Grandfather?”

“He’s in a conference room at the hotel. But don’t be mad at him, please…”

Before Ladybug could yell more, Isaac and his father approached her. “Uh, Ladybug?”

“Yes?”

“Look, I wanted to—we wanted to apologize. Thank you for rescuing us, and I’m sorry. I guess I had forgotten what it was like having akumas around. You still stopped Hawkmoth, right? Well…until today…”

“Hawkmoth is a friend of ours now,” Ladybug clarified. “He’s paid for his crimes, but today has shown that he hasn’t quite learned the right way to deal with problems. I believe he was well intentioned, but we will be having words.”

Isaac’s father nudged his son. “You want to say anything?”

Isaac shyly looked at the family and admitted, “thank you for inviting to the party. No one invites me to things.”

“Yeah, well, work on your boundary issues, and maybe it’ll happen more often,” said Louis.

“If you guys want to head back to the hotel, I think there’s still time for cake!” Said Chat, with optimism.

—

After the Miraculous cure restored the party, everyone gathered again and lunch was served.

But, the Dupain-Chengs were in the conference room. Marinette and Adrien frowned at their youngest and Gabriel.

“Now, son--” Gabriel began.

“What were you thinking?” Adrien interrupted.

“I was thinking that Paris needed a little reminder of all the hard work you guys did.”

“Yeah, cool,” sniped Marinette. “Except now they think you’re out of retirement, and that’s a huge reminder that we didn’t stop you!”

Gabriel took the brooch off. “Then here. Make it official. Tell them that this akuma was my swan-song and I made it to surrender.”

Marinette took the brooch regardless, and put it in her bag. “I don’t know what I’ll say to the media. They’ll want to know who you are, and if you’re going to prison…and akumatizing your own granddaughter?”

“I told him I was okay with it!” Said Emma. “I knew what I was getting into. It’s not that big of a deal!”

“Not that big of a deal!?”

There was a knock on the door, as Hugo and Louis peeked their heads in. “There you are, Grandfather!”

“Hi boys,” he smiled at them, softly.

The twins pushed passed their parents to stand in front of him, arms crossed, just like Marinette and Adrien.

“What you did was terrible,” Said Louis.

“So awful,” echoed Hugo.

“You could have permanently hurt or traumatized people.”

“Done thousands of dollars of property damage.”

Gabriel sighed. “I know…I just—“ But he was cut off as the boys wrapped him up in a tight hug. “What?”

“Thanks for the coolest present ever!”

“Yeah! Mom gave us our Miraculous, but the chance to use them on a real akuma!?”

“Hey!” Shouted Emma. “I was the akuma! No thanks for me!?”

They gave her a noogie. “Thanks twerp.”

“You’re a twerp!”

Marinette and Gabriel met eyes. He gave a sheepish shrug. “I know I’m bad. But I deeply love my family.”

She then gave up trying to be angry. “Alright fine. I admit it. It was fun to fight an akuma again. But it’s over now!”

Adrien shook his head fondly. “Thanks for meddling dad.”

“Your welcome, son.”

“I want cake!” Hugo shouted.

“Cake time!”

“Yay cake!”

“No cake for Emma. Only broccoli.” Marinette clarified. “You were naughty.”

“Aw man!!”

AND THAT’S THE END!

Oh my word this story got AWAY from me! It was only supposed to be maybe 20 chapters when I first started on it? But here we are, a year and a half later, and over 200,000 words! I kinda can’t believe I’m done!

Anyways, thank you all for sticking around through all the heartache. I appreciated every single review and like. And one parting question: What was your favorite part?

#miraculous ladybug #ml #ladybug #chat noir #ladynoir #adrienette #gabriel agreste #fanfiction #longest night #marinette dupain cheng #adrien agreste

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sir-silly · 3 years

Text

TWDG S2 First Playthrough

E1 - Omid’s death is always such a bitchslap. It’s so stupid. Literally, why did they send her in there on her own? Are you kidding me? It’s ridiculous. Omid didn’t have to die. 16 months later?? What??? It would have made way more sense to have made the DLC about those sixteen months and then start at Christa’s camp with no baby or Omid instead of what we got instead. Bull. AND WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO CHRISTA.

I think out of the entirety of season 2, Clementine and Luke’s relationship in the first three episodes is my favorite. He becomes an alien after episode two, but he becomes intolerable after three. He’s just such a big brother to her and knows that she can take care of herself. Their relationship is similar to what I think Clem and Ben’s would have been if they ended up alone together after season 1.

I stole Nick’s watch, I’m not sure if I’ll give it back yet just because I think it’s hilarious that you can take it and not give it to him. Speaking of Nick, he 110% sees you when you look through the kitchen door if you never back out and he doesn’t say anything. I decided to go with Pete at the end just because I’ve never seen it played out before.

E2 - Well, ironically enough I prefer going with Nick. The first few times I saw it, I hated it, but it’s really grown on me throughout the years. Pete’s just didn’t feel as emotional or like it had much of an affect on Clementine. I also prefer him telling her about his mom in that shed rather than later on.

Another thing I love about Luke and Clem’s relationship, even though he knows she can take care of herself, he still tries to protect her. He holds his arm out in front of her when Matthew is approaching them on the bridge and is the one that pulls her down to keep her from getting shot. The banter they have is just really sweet and I miss that dynamic between them, I wish it carried throughout the rest of the season.

I was thinking about a missed opportunity the writer’s had while I was playing. Instead of having Walter die no matter what and Nick either die in episode two or four, whether you tell him the truth and/or convince him to forgive Nick should have a different outcome. Only one of them makes it to Howe’s depending on what you decided. You couldn’t convince Walter to forgive him? Nick goes out of his way to save Walter and Carver kills him. You told him Nick was a good guy? Walter sacrifices himself for Nick and gets killed instead. It would give a bigger variety and it would be really interesting to see how Walter would deal with being at Howe’s.

E3 - Troy makes me so uncomfortable. I know they were planning to have him do a lot worse, but he’s still just so ugh, you know? I’m physically incapable of liking Bonnie the more I see season 2. I just know that literally everything is because of her. She finds the group at the ski lodge, she blames Clementine for Luke’s death if she shoots the walkers LIKE HE ASKED, and she’s fully prepared to fucking leave her with a couple maniacs and a baby. Just her presence pisses me off.

I know I’m talking a lot about Clem and Luke, but I don’t care because I just love their relationship before he becomes an alien. I had her hug him which was really cute but I also want to see his reaction if she hits him which I think I’ll do next time. I know he pushes her to do things like every adult in this season, but he still actually seems to worry about her because he is hesitant about sending her to turn on the PA and he stands up to Carver when he says that Clem has seen more things than they could imagine.

E4 - I had no clue what I was going to do with Sarita, but I did end up chopping off her arm. I will forever hate how the adults are like "Kenny's being so scary, he's yelling, I thought he was gonna shoot me" and then they force Clem to go over there even if she says she doesn't want to.

I didn't know this until I looked it up just now, but apparently Nick died from a bite on the neck? This whole time, I thought he somehow just bled out from the gunshot to his shoulder, and I honestly don't know which is worse. His death is such bullshit. You know what else is bullshit? Alien Luke. Literally Rebecca shows more emotion than he does, and it was for all of 2 damn seconds. You know what I would have preferred?

Have Luke start breaking down. Make him just as unable to move as Sarah. Let him lose his mind over the fact that he just lost his best friend of "damn near 20 years" and make us decide whether we convince Luke or Sarah to escape. It's not convince Sarah or leave her, it's you can only save one of them. Again, more variety for those who aren't a fan of Luke and actually make it a hard decision because I feel like I would have a WAY harder time with that than whether to leave Sarah (I didn't by the way).

When Clem looks at the cannon and Jane says, "check the muzzle, napoleon" I really wish there was an option to be like, "Jane, I have a first grade education. I don't know my times tables, who the hell napoleon is, or what the fuck versatility means OR how to spell it. Keep yo damn nail file."

Another thing they could have done with Sarah, is if you saved her in the trailer park, she could have potentially saved herself. And this would be a really interesting one, because the determining factor would have been a thing that appeared as a dialogue option, not a choice choice. In episode two, you can teach her how to use a gun if you pick the right choice. Instead of having her die no matter what, if you showed her, let her actually show that she learned something and is capable of learning how to survive.

Rebecca’s whole situation is bullshit, too. You know, I’d be okay with it if it was changed. If you didn’t give her the pills, the coat and you left the observation deck early, I could buy her dying from hypothermia, exposure, blood loss, etc. But if you give her those things and you stay a few days, I would rather her have died in the firefight. It would have made way more sense. Like, I know a hell of a lot of things can go wrong during giving birth, especially without medical care, but after THREE damn days? I don’t know about that. Whatever you wanna say it was, a placental abruption, hemorrhaging, whatever - she would have died way quicker, not taken three days.

E5 - The writers had two good opportunities to get a chance to kill Kenny before the rest stop was ever a thing. They could have made Natasha go for him and you have the choice of shooting her or not. The could have been done later on when they’re walking through the woods and one comes up behind him. So, say you don’t let him get bitten the first time, but you’re seeing how unhinged he’s becoming, so you let it happen the second time. After that, you don’t get another opportunity.

Another thing about the pills, they’re so annoying. Like, you can only give them to one person. Rebecca, Luke or I think maybe Kenny. Because apparently there were only two damn pills in that bottle that shook like it was full. It’s so annoying. You should be able to give it to whoever you want, not just one of them.

I have so many problems with the ice scene. Yes, Luke, there are in fact TWO ways around. You see those trees? There’s these things called GAPS between them and the lake isn’t so damn big that you couldn’t walk around the damn lake. GRRRRR. When the ice started cracking, where were the choices to tell Luke to throw his gun away from him and to tell Bonnie to keep her fat ass put? “The small child is light, let them do it!” small child: no “Guess I’m just as light as her!” FUCK YOU BONNIE! THEN YOU HAVE THE FUCKING AUDACITY TO BLAME CLEMENTINE WHEN IT WAS CLEARLY YOUR FUCKING FAULT! YOU LITTLE WHORE ASS BITCH-

Sorry. I’m never going to get over Luke’s death or how fucking pissed I am at Bonnie and Mike. They can get fucked for all I care. Can I say, it’s also BULLSHIT that Bonnie makes it out of the ice but Luke doesn’t. Are you kidding me? She can find the hole, but he can’t (😳)?! GRRRR.

I was dreading that rest stop this whole damn game. I had no fucking clue what I was going to do when I finally got there, but I did end up deciding to shoot Kenny and leave Jane behind. I really struggled with deciding and I almost ended up not picking anything (which results in Jane’s death anyway). As much as I despise season 2 Kenny, I also despise Jane for what she did. I kinda wish I had looked away and then shot Kenny afterwards, but it is what it is.

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quackeroos · 4 years

Text

ONE WEEK || Day Two

Pairing: tom holland x dying ex!reader

Summary: you were dying, and tom still loves you. now he plans on loving you ‘til your last breath, and maybe get you to say those three words back to him.

Warnings: swearing, angst

Words: 3.4k

General Masterlist | Series Masterlist

MONDAY. TIME CHECK: currently 3 am. Tom was sitting on the couch next to y/n's bed. She was already sleeping, the television left open with the remote in hand. Tom had been with her all throughout the day, and he was thankful that she had let him stay. But of course, Y/n had still been distant. She would occasionally ask for things like food, her phone, water or call for Jamie. Y/n's little sister was already passed out on the couch at the other side of the room. Her head laying on a pillow with a textbook in her lap, glasses on and notes open. It was obvious Jamie was dead serious about her studies. But despite y/n giving him the cold shoulder, he didn't mind. After all, he was only here just to help with y/n getting better.

Lies.

Deep inside, there was a part of him that wanted to build the relationship they had when they were sixteen. Where nothing but romance and laughs filled the air they were in. But now, everything turned upside down. Tom sighed and stood up from his chair, making his way towards the cupboards to eat a midnight snack. He passes by Jamie, who was still sleeping on the couch, mouth slightly agape. Tom walked to her laptop and shuts off the device. He pulled the blanket over her, making sure she was warm and comfortable. Tom took out a cup of instant noodles and decided to have it, since it was the only food available.

He heated up a cup of water and waited for it to boil. Over the past few hours, Tom had learned that y/n has been admitted in the hospital since Wednesday, and that she had a daily routine whenever she stayed in the hospital. In the morning, she would read a book while eating her breakfast, in the afternoon, she would go to the hospital garden using her wheelchair and would stay until the sun sets. Sometimes, she would even stay until the stars were out, according to Jamie. But given her condition, she needed rest, which was the only thing she had been doing for the past four days.

In the middle of her routines, doctors and nurses came to check in on her, give her medicine and her food diet. During the time her lunch came, y/n had been picky, because hospital food didn't sit well with her. Tom knew what she would've liked, a big serving of lasagna, a plate of buffalo wings, and a glass of beer. She had a big appetite, most specially for sweets, and if she could have it her way, she would've liked to have at least one day to do it.

Tom took a seat on his usual chair, bringing a foldable table along with him to put his snacks on. He took out his phone to look at his notifications. 5 messages and 2 calls from Haz, 2 messages from Tuwaine, and 3 messages from Sam and Harry. Apparently, they were supposed to be going out yesterday, and the boys had been asking about his whereabouts. He hasn't replied to any of them since he left his phone off while taking care of y/n, until today.

***

Y/n woke up early as usual, at exactly 8:30 am, her eyes would open to a quiet morning. But today was an exception, because she heard whispers and shushes from a couple of people in the room. At first, she thought it was Tom and Jamie, that was until she sat up, only to see three boys standing around her bed. "Good morning y/n!" they greeted, making her flinch at the sudden number of visitors. She honestly did not expect them to visit her, nor did she know how the three men knew she was here. Her eyebrows were furrowed in confusion and disbelief before saying, "What in the world are you idiots doing here?"

"Tom told us that he was busy taking care of something. He didn't tell us that it was someone." Harry wiggled his eyebrows, a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"It's good to see you, y/n." Haz spoke up from the side of her bed. He was holding a balloon that said, 'Get Well Soon!', while Tuwaine and Sam were holding a bouquet of sunflowers and a box of Krispy Kreme donuts. "You Divs! I've missed all of you! C'mere!" Leaning in towards her small figure, the boys tried not to squish her in between the hug. It really has been so long since they've last seen each other in person. They would sometimes see each other's posts on social media and text each other from time to time, but they never saw each other the day after Tom and y/n had cut ties.

It was a touching moment, most specially for Y/n, because seeing the boys made her happy in the most depressing room she's in. "How long have you been here huh? You look like shit!" Sam said putting down the bouquet on the chair beside her bed. "Thank you for the unnecessary comment, dickhead. I was here since Wednesday, and the hospital's been treating me like a baby. Wouldn't give me even a bite of anything sweet."

"Well, you're in luck, darling. Coz we bought Donuts!"

"She's not eating those." A voice called from the door.

Tom had just arrived, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants. He was carrying two bags; one was his backpack and the other was a paper bag of food for him and Jamie when she gets back. "Y/n, you're not allowed to eat anything high in sugar, remember?" He puts down his backpack on the sofa and the paper bag on the countertop table. He turned towards the four boys. "And didn't I tell you guys not to come by without me here?"

"Jeez, you could've thanked us, you know. We looked out for y/n while you were gone. Where were you anyway?" Haz asked.

"Went back to the apartment to get a few things." He pointed to his backpack. "I'm staying here for a few days."

"You're what?" They asked, looking at him then back at y/n for confirmation. She sighed and nodded. "Jamie has exams coming up, so she asked him to look out for me while she was busy. Mum and Dad were out on a business trip, and hopefully, they'll be back tonight."

"So, if you're parents are coming home..." Harry trailed off. "Then shouldn't you be staying here until tonight only?" he pointed towards Tom, who was busy tidying things up. He was oddly quiet and didn't answer his brother's question. So, y/n was left to answer it. "It's kind of complicated. I'll tell you when I have the time. So, how about those donuts, yeah?"

"Oh no, you will not be having those. You are on a strict diet, so stick with it." Tom had taken the box of donuts from Tuwaine's hands before they even got to y/n's grasp. "Mate, eat this else somewhere, please. Or else she wouldn't be able to help herself."

"I can eat whatever I want, Tom. So just stop pretending to be my dad for once and let me have a little freedom." Y/n had snapped. "Tuwaine, gimme some of those."

"C'mon y/n. Why do you have to be so stubborn? You gotta sacrifice these if you still wanna live."

"Well, I'm dying anyway! I might as well die happy rather than letting you and this fucking hospital treat me like shit!"

The boys' eyes went wide, not expecting for her to snap. Tom had let out a stressed sigh. tired because he slept at around 4 am and woke up at 6 to head to his apartment and get the things for his stay, and tired for dealing with y/n's stubbornness. It's only been a day, he thought, what more could the other days bring in the future?

"I'm gonna get some fresh air. I'll be back in a few." He said looking at his watch before grabbing his wallet. "Guys, look after her for me. Okay?" and before the boys could talk back and protest, he was out and gone. Their stare lingered on the door, sympathetically. Before a few moments of silence, Haz spoke first, clearing out the awkward tension in the air. "You know, y/n, you shouldn't be too hard on him. Tom really is trying his best."

Y/n diverts her eyes away from the blonde and stared towards the window. “You’re just saying that because you’re his friend."

"I'm telling you this because BOTH of you are my friends." He held her hand and smiled encouragingly. "Don't be too hard on him. Okay? He only wants you to live a little longer. All of us do. So don't say your goodbyes just yet."

***

Tom got back at around ten in the morning. His hair a little messy and tousled. He just came back from a long walk around the hospital, trying to clear his mind out. He wondered what y/n thought of his sudden walk out. Did she think he was angry? But he wasn't angry, he could never be angry at her, not at a time like this. A sigh escapes from his lips.

During his little time out, he thought of possible ways to keep y/n from thinking about dying, or if anything, her being gone from the face of the earth.

He planned on ways to keep her happy and away from any negative thoughts, he searched on his phone for possible cures for Friedreich's Ataxia, any possible ways that could keep her breathing was all he could think of for the past hours he's been here. Because, no matter how much pain y/n had brought upon him, all he wanted was for her to be back. The lively, amazing, and unbelievably glutinous Y/n that he knew and loved. And to live for as long as she could.

Once he had closed the door, he heard laughs. And it was no doubt that it came from y/n and the four boys. They were laughing at an episode from Brooklyn 99, a favorite of y/n's, with the boys sitting at both sides of her bed.

They only noticed Tom when he sat at his usual chair, with his script for an upcoming movie in hand, his reading glasses on. Harrison took notice of his arrival. "You're back. You've been gone for a while." Tom had looked up shortly before grunting in reply, not in the mood to talk as he was busy memorizing his lines. Haz nudged y/n's arm and nodded towards Tom's direction, giving her the 'go-do-what-you-have-to-do' look telling her so. The other boys also had them, and they mouthed her to 'go talk to him'.

Words got caught up in her throat. It took y/n a few moments to gather up the courage and call out his name. "Tom?"

He looked up from his script, looking at y/n as he sets down the bundle of pages of paper. "Can you take me to the garden? I really need to get some fresh air." Tom looked at the whiteboard with the medication and meal schedules written in black marker. He looked at his watch before replying, "It's almost time for your lunch. Are you sure you want to go now?" Without a second thought, she nodded and smiled a tight lipped one.

Tom stood up from his chair and took out her wheelchair, parking it at the side of her bed. He carried her like a bride, only she was wearing a green hospital cotton gown, instead of an extravagant white one with intricate designs decorating it. Finally placing her on the chair, he pushed her towards the door and led her to the rooftop garden.

She breathed in the fresh air of freshly watered grass and flowers when the two of them arrived. It was morning so the air was slightly dewy. Y/n pulled her jacket tighter to give the warmth she needed and smiled as the rays of the sun hits her face, along with a cool breeze.

The rooftop garden was perfect. Flowers and grass covered the area along with a few potted plants. Benches scattered in each designated place, a fountain was placed in the middle of it and a brick road guided the path.

Tom picked the bench that was across the fountain and where the sun could be seen when it rises. He picked her up again and gently placed her on the bench, sitting at the other end to give her enough space to be comfortable. To pass the time, he decided to memorize his lines and let y/n be with herself and the nature around her.

Y/n looked at Tom as his eyes scan every letter of the script. The glasses he was wearing stood on the bridge of his nose and was slightly slipping, making him push it back every now and then. "Haz said you were working on a new movie. Is that why you're reading your script for the time being?" She spoke. Her sudden question made Tom pause for a little before he replied with a light, "Yeah." And goes back to reading.

"Care to tell me more about it?"

"It's actually a book adaptation. It's a story about two teens overcoming something that they call a 'Noise-germ' and searching for a cure while running from bad guys." He tore his eyes away from her and proceeded in memorizing.

"It's a good book actually, you'll probably like it."

"Maybe you could give me a copy. I just finished a book last night and I have nothing else better to read anyway."

He responds with, "Sure." and closed the topic in an instant. Y/n bit the inside of her cheek, feeling the guilt get to her. Now she felt bad for how she treated him yesterday, today, and how she ended things with him out in the blue. There was a reason behind it all, of course. She still loved him, that will never change. But there's fear behind her love for Tom. She breathed out to release the uneasy feeling inside of her before speaking.

"Tom, I'm sorry."

He froze hearing those words, it caught his attention. He puts down the papers and turned his head towards her. She continued speaking. "I'm sorry for pushing you away, and for what happened three years ago." Her head bowed; eyes glued to her lap as if there was something interesting about it. "There's a reason why I did those things to you. And I'm sorry that I ended everything between us without a proper explanation. It was the only way to keep you from getting hurt even more if you found out."

Tom was silent for a moment. He didn't expect her to say those, he expected for her to push him away even more, like how she had done three years ago and yesterday. This was something refreshing for Tom. He directed his body towards her, his right leg resting on the bench.

"I'll admit, three years ago, you breaking up with me out of the blue? Really shocked me, and it hurt me more than ever. But then I realize..." He sat closer to her, setting down his script on the bench. "The thought of you, gone from this world, without telling you how much I love you? That's my worst fear yet, and that'll hurt me more than you ever know." He held her pale hands, they were cold and soft, slightly thin than they were before.

"I know you're scared of leaving behind the things you love. But pushing them away won't solve anything. I'm glad you let me stay and take care of you. Because, honestly, keeping you alive is all that matters to me right now." He leaned in his head, landing it on top of hers. They were so close, y/n could already feel his breath hitting the little hairs of her upper lip.

She missed having this though. Having him near her, feeling safe and protected, and not having to think about death, like when they were still sixteen. She couldn't remember the last time they were this close to each other.

Tom began again, "So please," as he held her hand in his and locked his eyes with hers. He whispered the next few words. It was a bit inaudible, but it was enough for y/n to hear. "Stay alive. If not for me, then do it for Jamie, your parents, Harrison, Tuwaine and the twins." Y/n could feel her cheeks heat up, tears welling up as he continued.

"I love you Y/n Kingsleigh, so damn much. Don't say your goodbyes just yet. Because I'm not ready to hear that from you again."

***

The trip back to y/n's hospital room was quiet, but it was the 'comfortable-kind' of quiet. Y/n fiddled with the hem of her jacket on the way back. The pair passed by different faces of doctors and nurses, rushing about as they briskly walk through the busy hall, nodding as their eyes meet. "Tom?" She called, he responded with a hum. "Have you ever wondered what our future would be like if I didn't have this?"

"Hmmm... I prefer the word 'planned' actually." he answered back, still pushing the wheelchair.

"Why is that?"

"You'll see, love. Soon." Tom turns the knob and pulled the door open, pushing her in and closing the door behind him. One they were inside they noticed that the room was crowded and is very quiet.

The boys were sitting on the couch, Jamie was standing, listening closely, and there stood in front of her was their parents, both still in coats with their luggage tucked away. Y/n and Tom heard their hushed voices as y/n's parents and her doctor converse of what seems a very serious matter. Out of instinct, y/n held Tom's hand tightly, fear washed over her and she knew what the three were talking about. Feeling the need of comfort, he knew what he had to do. Tom rubbed his thumb over her hand and held it tightly.

"I know that this is a lot to take in, Mr. and Mrs. Kingsleigh. The procedure is risky, but there is an 80% chance she might survive if we do the surgery. I'll give you time to think about it. But it'll be best if we do it within the week to help her control the symptoms. The earlier we do it, the longer she can live." the doctor excused himself as he exits the room.

Everyone wore saddened expressions as the news dawned on them. Y/n's mother broke down in tears as she embraces her husband for support. Jamie lets out a heavy sigh as her eyes wells with tears. It was still unbelievable for them to accept the sudden news, and it pained everyone in the room, most specially for the two. Y/n had to undergo surgery, a risky one at that. And there was a high chance for her to die while on it.

"Mum. Dad." y/n called out, her voice so soft almost as a whisper. They turned their heads towards her and wiped the remaining tears. "Sweet Pea, you're here... And with Tom?" their attention diverted from hers to the man beside her. "Uhm yeah... me and Tom just went out for some fresh air." She gave him a grateful glance, smiling as she does. Tom returns one too before pushing her wheelchair towards her bed and laying her gently on the cushioned bed. Once y/n felt the soft mattress hit her back, she lets out a relaxed sigh.

As she opens her eyes, the sight of worried parents and gloomy friends greeted her, bringing her back to the thoughts she didn't want to talk about just yet. "You heard it, haven't you? From the door?" Her mother asked. Y/n looks away and hums in response. "There's nothing else we can do, huh?"

"Doc. Allen said it'd be best if we do the surgery this week, Hun. You're getting worse, and it'll damage you even more."

She lets out another sigh, and looked up at the ceiling, "I'll take whatever chance I can get. Alright then."

Shocked by her sudden submission, her parents walked towards her bed, hugging her both as thanks and comfort. Tom watched the family in each other's arms. He caught Mrs. Kingsleigh's eyes and she mouthed a 'Thank You'. He wasn't sure what it was for, but he acknowledged it.

Maybe it was for taking care of her while they were gone. Or maybe, it was for putting up with her stubborn attitude. But one thing's for sure.

Y/n was not giving up.

And neither was Tom.

day three of One Week

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#tom holland #tom holland angst #tom holland imagines #tom holland series #tom holland x reader #tom holland x y/n #tom holland reader insert #tom holland x you #angst #dying ex #peter parker #harrison osterfield #one week #one week by quackeroos

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tickletastic · 4 years

Text

Practical Joker

Fandom: Little Fires Everywhere

Ship: mentions of Trip/Pearl

Summary: Pearl is once again spending a lazy afternoon with the Richardson children, but the afternoon is much less calm when Lexie comes home, angry about a prank that Moody pulled on her.

Notes: I know that the mini-series has already been cast, but I already had an idea in my head of what all of the characters looked like before that, so please excuse the fact that my character description don’t match the cast!

“I’m thirsty,” Trip complained, his eyes staring hard at Moody even though his younger brother wasn’t looking back at him.

“No way,” Moody could still feel the eyes on him, even if he wasn’t looking, “you have legs, get a drink yourself.”

Despite the fact that they’re only a year apart, for nearly his whole childhood Moody looked up to Trip. If Trip asked Moody to do something, he would do it right away and enthusiastically. It got to the point where Trip could just send Moody a look, and like a golden retriever, Moody would be there. That didn’t mean that they never fought, because they certainly did that, and a lot of it for that matter, but temporary dislike could never translate to hate for Moody.

As Moody reached his teenage angst years, the look became much less effective. Moody still loved his brother, and he still admired him, but he no longer idolized him like he used to. Sometimes, Moody would still give into Trip’s look, which had morphed over the years from one of gratitude to puppy-dog eyes. Other times, Moody would outright reject the idea of doing something for his brother that Trip could easily do himself.

Pearl was completely confused when Moody had started a conversation completely unprompted, but she had learned over time that some things between the Richardson kids are better left unasked about.

There was a surprisingly boring episode of the Jerry Springer Show today, so none of them had really been paying attention. The episode suddenly became much more interesting when Moody realized that Trip was trying to guilt him into getting him a drink.

Lexie stormed in suddenly, she had told Trip earlier that she was gonna have to skip their TV session because she had to study with Brian. She looked angry when she bursted through the door, and the look on her face forced a stream of giggles from Moody’s lips.

“What’s so funny, you little shit? I’m going to actually kill you,” Lexie spoke, sounding much calmer than she looked. She produced a pile from her backpack, it seemed to be a bunch of fake cockroaches, she continued to dig and produced a container, opening it to reveal its contents. “What? You think it’s funny to put toy roaches in my bag? You thought it was funny to replace my lunch with clay?”

Pearl had to cover her mouth to stop her own laughter as she glanced in the container. There was a sandwich shaped creation made out of playdough, as well as shapes of lettuce, tomatoes, and onions arranged like a salad.

Trip wasn’t nearly as kind, and he burst out laughing, grabbing the container from Lexie’s hand. He snapped a picture, texting it to Izzy, who was at band rehearsal. When he looked up from his phone he held up his hand for a high-five from Moody, “That was a good one Mood-”

Trip stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the murderous look in Lexie’s eyes- he knew what that meant. “I mean, that’s totally not cool dude.”

Lexie started to approach Moody, who started climbing over the back of the couch, standing on the other side of it once he finished. He held his hands out in front of him, shaking his head back and forth. “Hey Lexie, I’m sorry.”

Lexie wasn’t convinced, her youngest brother could barely get through his apology without giggling softly. “You have nowhere to go, Moody. You might as well surrender now. We both know that the longer you avoid it the worse my revenge will be.”

The thought made Moody shudder. He had once avoided his sister for three entire weeks in hopes that she would forget about what he had done. It made it way worse, one thousand times worse. Their mom had forced the four of them to go see a movie at the theatre together, Lexie made sure to sit next to him, and her fingers were torturing him from the trailers to the end credits. It was one of the most torturous things he had even gone through. If he thinks about it enough he can still feel her torturous fingers tickling his tummy as if he were still in the theatre watching Man Of Steel.

He looked around the room, viewing all possible exits. He could go through the window. Would that be crazy? Is it still snowing outside? He could run into the kitchen, but where would he go from there? He knew that the only place where he could guarantee a lock and safety for an unknown amount of time was his bedroom. He would need to go through the archway and up the stairs, which would be risky for sure.

He bolted for it, running through the exit only to be grabbed by the hood and thrown over someone’s shoulder. He knew it wasn’t Lexie, although she was pretty strong she definitely could not pick up a sixteen-year-old on her own. Moody tried to bring his head up, struggling in the grip of the person carrying him in hopes to flee.

When Moody finally managed to look up, his brown curls falling in his face, he was met with a face full of short, blond hair. It was short blond hair that belonged to Trip.

“You’re a traitor! Let me down, dumbass!” Moody screamed, trying to hit his brother.

“You should’ve just gotten me some juice, buddy.” Trip didn’t bother lowering Moody softly, he threw his younger brother’s body onto the couch like a ragdoll. Moody had always despised the fact that Trip was so much stronger than him, despite the fact that there was only a year between them.

Moody tried to scramble off of the couch, but Trip quickly pinned his arms above his head. Moody was really starting to panic, he squirmed and pulled hard. He tried to use his hands to his Trip, or pinch his skin, but his brother didn’t let up. When he finally looked at Lexie again, he could feel nothing but fear. He started begging her to stay away from him, he asked Pearl to help him escape, but nothing worked.

When he felt Lexie’s fingers dance over his ribs, his entire body went cold, and he clamped his mouth shut, biting his lip. Lexie wasn’t worried, Moody could never last more than twenty seconds or so.

“I know you’re not sorry right now, Moods, but I’m going to make you sorry,” Lexie taunted before speeding up her fingers.

Moody’s giggles were loud and bubbly, Pearl believes that his laugh could be one of the most adorable sounds to exist. Although she hadn’t enjoyed Moody’s phase of anger towards her and Trip for dating, she was glad that they were finally back to being best friends, not only because of his adorable laugh, but that was definitely a plus.

Moody wanted to hit himself, he hated how vulnerable he was to this, and he genuinely could not handle tickling most of the time. As a little kid, as embarrassing as it is to admit, his siblings rarely had pity, and it wasn’t rare that he would pee himself and get his siblings in trouble for it. He grew to control his bladder, but he still couldn’t completely control the way that the touches made him feel.

“I’m alreheheady s-sohorehehe! Stop! Lehehex, I cahahahan’t!” Moody squealed, his body twitching sporadically in a way that he couldn’t control. Lexie’s fingers were scribbling up and down Moody’s ribs, drilling in between them, and scratching along them horizontally. Moody’s head was thrown back, and he was shaking it back and forth just like how he had before he had ran from Lexie.

Pearl hadn’t known that Moody was so ticklish. She had accidentally tickled him during hugs and when the five of them ended up arranged in a big heap on the couch, but she had never thought he was this bad. Moody was close to hysterics and Lexie had barely even started all that she had planned.

Moody’s brain was everywhere except on escape measures, every second that he was getting tickled was torture to him, especially by Lexie. When she started her teasing, he knew that he was doomed.

“Aww, what’s wong Moody? Is someone a wittle ticklwish? Is Mister Giggles making another appearance?” Lexie spoke in that evil, condescending voice that always drove Moody crazy. He had always hated being babied, and this voice amplified that, it also somehow amplified the feeling of her fingers.

Lexie had moved from Moody’s ribs up to his collarbones, tracing the bones and even laying some raspberries on his skin there. He tried to clamp his chin down to avoid the feeling, but that forced Trip to hold Moody’s head up by his chin, wiggling his fingers underneath it as well as over the shells of his ears.

“Fu-Ah! Fuhuhuhuck you Trihihip! Yohohou are so dehehead!” Moody squealed loudly. The spot where his jaw met his neck had always been a pretty bad spot, and Trip’s fingers had wiggled over it. “Please stop!”

Lexie clicked her teeth, shaking her head back and forth in mock sadness. “Uh-uh-uh, no can do. Sorry baby brother, but I believe that you have a lesson to learn, there’s no stopping yet.”

Lexie’s fingers quickly darted down to Moody’s tummy, and his scream was glass-shattering, but Lexie just laughed in response before moving down to his thighs and pinching at them, spidering her fingers over his knees too. “Don’t worry, I’ll save the best for last.”

Trip was starting to get a little twitchy. He always needs something to fidget with, and watching his older sister tickle their brother was kind of making him squirm. He’s been in the same position before, it’s always a nightmare. He hadn’t even realized that his fingers had started to dig into both of Moody’s armpits until his younger brother was loudly cursing his name.

Lexie looked back at Trip, noticing what he was doing, and thanking Trip for helping him. Trip knew this would probably be bad news for him later on, but he would much rather take the revenge from Moody instead of Lexie. Plus, he kind of didn’t mind being tickled if he was being honest.

While Trip contemplated internally, Moody was convinced that he was entering the worst layer of hell. Lexie was still tickling his legs, but she was making her way down towards his feet. Moody suddenly really wished that he had kept his shoes on when he had entered. When Lexie’s fingers started scratching under his toes, he desperately tried to kick out, he needed to escape, he felt like he was going crazy.

Lexie noticed, and Moody had always been known as the sibling with the worst reactions to tickling, so she knew that she needed to end it soon, she didn’t want him to pass out after all. Moody’s laughter was peppered with snorts as she continued. His feet had always been pretty sensitive, easily his second worst spot after his tummy.

Lexie quickly spidered her fingers up and started to scrub at Moody’s tummy, laying a raspberry every 30 seconds or so. Moody’s laughter came and went, squealing everytime Lexie placed a raspberry on his tummy, and falling into hiccupy, silent laughter afterwards.

Trip stopped and looked up at their older sister when he heard Moody’s hysterics. “Lex, I think he’s nearly at the end of his rope.”

Lexie nodded, agreeing, knowing that Moody’s eyes were shut too tight to see her motion. “Are you sorry, Moody? Were your pranks as funny as this?”

Moody tried his best to answer, but he could barely breathe, he was wheezing and his chest was starting to hurt, but he knew that Lexie knew that, she was good at not taking things too far usually.

“I’m- I’m sohohohorehehehe!” Moody squealed when he finally did acquire air.

Lexie stopped, backing off and shooing Trip off of Moody’s wrists. Moody curled into a ball, trying to breathe through his hiccups and residual laughter. Pearl scooted towards him, rubbing his back soothingly. Moody initially jumped away from the touch, whimpering slightly, until he noticed that it was Pearl, and not either of his evil siblings. He melted into her touch, and he desperately tried to calm down.

When he finally had air and he was no longer panting, he stayed curled up, holding his knees to his chest. His breath started to slow, his siblings knew that crazy tickling usually made him really tired, but before his eyes finally shut, he looked up, glaring towards Lexie and Trip.

“You both better sleep with one eye open.”

#little fires everywhere #moody richardson #pearl warren #trip richardson #lexie richardson #izzy richardson #ticklish!moody

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exomatseumnida · 5 years

Text

Superman Bobby

In which Bobby becomes a dad and appears in The Return of Superman

word count: 1700+

The first day of the shooting, you didn’t even want your shadow to appear on the camera but the KBS staffs said that usually they’d introduce the family on the first episode the family started to appear on ‘The Return of Superman’ so here you are, still sleeping next to Bobby surrounded by cameras at every inch of your bedroom. You couldn’t sleep a wink because you hated being around cameras but what do you expect when you signed a contract for the show? Of course, they’d be placing cameras all over your house to capture every moment of your children.

You stirred from your sleep and woke up a little bit earlier than usual. You looked to your left and found Bobby still sleeping peacefully, with his mouth wide open and a hand around your sixteen months old toddler, Kiha. You smiled at the sight in front of you and pushed the strands of Bobby’s hair away from his face and gave your baby a kiss on his forehead before walking out of the bed to your four years old daughter’s room, Jiyoon. Seeing how your little princess is still sleeping, you proceeded to the kitchen to prepare breakfast for your little family as you usually did, only this time, being surrounded by artificial eyes.

“Good morning” you greeted the three cameramen inside their respective tents in your living room while you placed the side dishes on the dining table. Seeing how the cameramen are working from early morning, you prepared a simple sandwich for them because you felt uncomfortable letting your family eat without having some for themselves. “Here, please have some” you said to one of the cameramen inside the tent. “Thank you” he replied before taking his hand out of the tent and reached for the sandwich you prepared.

Once done setting the table, you saw your daughter walking out of the hallway to the kitchen with her favorite blanket on her hand. “Omma, good morning” she smiled as she looked up at you. “Good morning, Jiyoon. Did you wake appa up?” you asked because usually when she wakes up first, she would go to your room and wakes Bobby up. “Yes! Appa is putting on his clothes” she said before placing her blanky on the chair and proceeded to help you placing cups on the table. “Thank you, princess” you kissed her head.

Bobby walked out of the room with a very puzzled Kiha in his arms when he saw the tents in the living room. “Morning baby” Bobby greeted before pecking your cheeks.

“Annyeonghaseyo, iKON’s main rapper, Bobby-imnida” he bowed to the camera infront of him. “Annyeonghaseyo, Kim Jiyoon and Kim Kiha’s omma, (Y/N)-imnida” you followed and bowed to the camera too.

“Ah, I should’ve said I am their father too” Bobby scratched his head when he heard your introduction. You laughed along the PDs and playfully slapped his thigh.

“If you don’t mind, please introduce yourself more” one of the PD asked you when he saw you were being rather stiff in front of the camera.

“Umm…” you bit your lip before continuing. “I work as a physician at a university hospital…and, yeah...” your voice trailed off, earning more giggles from the people in the room.

“So how did both of you actually meet?”

You and Bobby exchanged looks before Bobby nodded at you. “You tell them”

“I was on my shift when he was brought to the hospital after one of his concert ended for a check up and since then, I was his doctor-in-charge. He asked for my number and…we started dating after that” you turned your head to Bobby who was blushing hard while you tell the story before he added. “At first, she didn’t want to give me her number but after I tried persuading her many times, she finally gave me her number” Bobby looked down on the floor to avoid getting his flushed cheeks caught on the camera.

“I actually gave my number to stop him from sending flowers and chocolates to my office but once he got my number, he started sending more stuffs to my office and house” you pointed at your husband who was now signaling you to stop. It was only yesterday when you told him you don’t like being in front of cameras but here you are, spilling every embarrassing thing he did when he was so keen to have you by himself.

“We got married during autumn and got Jiyoon a year after.” Bobby answered when asked about your marriage life.

“I’m sure now you still have fans all over the world, what were their reactions when you revealed that you were dating and the reaction when you got married?” the PD asked.

“At first, well, some of them were supportive and some of them were against it but I told my fans that I am very happy with (Y/N) and there were some tough times that we both went through but soon they started to accept my relationship with (Y/N). I mean, eventually I’m going to get married and start a family. When the news of me and (Y/N) are getting married, they were supportive and I am very thankful for that. I am very thankful that they can accept me building my happiness with the person I love” Bobby reached to your hand and intertwined it with his.

“Whenever he goes away for a concert or fan meets, I told him that I’m okay with him saying stuffs like ‘iKONICS, I love you’ or ‘You guys are my lovers’. I mean, before he met me, his fans were there for him first, so I don’t get jealous whenever he does fan service and all” you explained when being asked about Bobby’s job.

While you both were busy being interviewed, a small figure run towards you and climbed on your lap while Jiyoon went to Bobby and hugged him.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Kim Jiyoon-imnida” your daughter greeted. “Kiha, say hi” you took his hand and waved to the camera

“Appa, you promised to go to the kids’ café today, right?” your daughter asked while poking her fork on the sausage. “Yes, but first, what do you have to do?” Bobby leaned towards her, waiting for her answer. “We have to shower, wash our face and brush our teeth!” Jiyoon smiled and high fived Bobby. Kiha playfully hit the table when he saw Bobby smiled at him.

“Also, my babies, omma won’t be joining you today.” You announced at the dining table making Jiyoon turned away from her plate. “B-but why?” she looked at you before tearing up. “Aigoo, don’t cry, Jiyoon” you wiped her cheek while Bobby fed Kiha. “Omma is going to rest from work so that you can spend more time with appa. You always get mad at appa for not spending more time with you right?” you cupped her cheeks.

One of the reasons you agreed to shoot this show with your kids was because Bobby rarely gets to spend time with his children and sometimes Jiyoon got pissed at him for leaving frequently. You wanted Bobby to bond more with the kids because deep down you know Jiyoon loves Bobby so much (probably more than you) and she would sometimes call out Bobby’s name in her sleep which made Bobby more miserable when you had told him about it. Kiha, on the other side, being the bright baby himself, he doesn’t even notice if his dad goes missing because he entertains himself well.

“But I want omma and appa to be there together…” her voice trailed off, making your heart heavy. You looked up at Bobby who put down his chopsticks and went to Jiyoon’s side to cheer her up by promising her to buy toys and delicious food later and thankfully, she was in a better mood when Bobby had done compromising with her.

“I feel really bad towards my kids and my wife for not being a better father and husband and not being there when they needed me. Sometimes I had to be away from them for months and (Y/N) had to handle the kids alone when she herself is a busy person.” Bobby bit his lips.

“Sometimes, my mom would stop by my house to play with the kids and help (Y/N) with house chores…and I am very thankful for that” Bobby started to tear up when he reflected through all those times you had to handle everything alone and you would tell him that you got everything settled and told him to not worry.

You placed every information related to the kids’ needs on the refrigerator before clearing the dining table with Bobby helping you washing the dishes.

“Yeobo, do you think…I can do this?” he asked while looking at you who’s bringing more empty plates to the sink. “Isn’t it a bit too late to ask me that?” you laughed.

“I know, it’s just…I hope I will be the one taking care of the kids, not the other way around” he said lowly. Jiyoon has a knack of taking care of people especially Kiha because one, she wanted to be a doctor like you, two, she was raised to have empathy and sympathy towards everything around her.

“I can’t wait to watch this episode when it airs” you laughed again at the thought of Bobby being all flustered while the kids go crazy at the kids’ café. “Oh, you like it?” he closed the tab before hugging you from behind and attack you with butterfly kisses. “S-stop it!” you giggled when you remembered there are cameras everywhere. The commentators are probably whining how sweet he is and say how Bobby is putting the men in South Korea a hard time.

Once everything was done, you picked up your luggage and head towards the door with Bobby and the kids’ following you from behind. “Ah, why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?” you stopped on your tracks and looked at Bobby who was holding Kiha in his arms. “Yeobo~” Bobby whined making you chuckle. You stooped down to match Jiyoon’s height and hug her. “Have fun with appa, alright? Promise me to be a good girl” you stuck out your pinky finger and Jiyoon wrapped hers around yours and hugged you again. “Omma, come back safely, okay?” she said before you waved at your little family, leaving Bobby to start on his mission as a ‘single’ father.

“Let’s show omma that we will have fun together!” Bobby high fived his daughter when deep down inside him, he had already started to panic. This is going to be a long day..

#kpop scenarios #fluff scenarios #kpop #ikon scenario #ikon scenarios #kpop imagines #ikon one shots #ikon fluff #bobby fluff #bobby scenarios #bobby imagines #ikon #ikon kim jiwon #ikon bobby #ikon jiwon

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clubdolan · 5 years

Text

& They Were Roommates ... | NC

When long time friends become housemates and everyone sees it but them.

“Whoaaaa-kay, Noah. Who is that, why is she here and why haven’t I met her?” Erik stopped dead in his tracks as he walked into Noah’s kitchen.

“My name is Brooke, I’m staying here for a while and.. you’re meeting me now.”

Noah nodded at Erik as she had answered all his questions. “We were friends in high school, lived in the same neighborhood and our moms are good friends…. and our sisters are the same age.”

“So you just moved your girl-next-door in without telling me? Or anyone?”

“I lived across the street and down a few houses.” She corrected him, “not next door”; grabbing her plate of food and heading to the room that she had been given.

Noah lowered his voice, “It was super last minute, she got a job out here and needed to move. We’ve kept in touch and I saw she needed a place so until she finds one by herself, I said she could stay here.”

“And I ask one more time, why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t know you needed to know who was living at my house.” He shrugged, grabbing a drink from the fridge.

“I needed to know, because she’s… gorgeous.”

“Yeah, she’s cute.” Noah said, “She’s a dancer too, I know you’ve got a thing for—

“Ughhh, fuck yeah. Hook me up, bro. Give me the digits, introduce me, let’s all go get—

“Not gunna happen.” He laughed, “She’s on the ‘independent I don’t need a man’ train right now.”

“She didn’t know she needed a man until she met me.” Erik brushed off his shirt, “I’ll go introduce myself—

“Duuuude, you’ll see her here sometimes. Talk to her then. I don’t want my friends annoying her, I said you all would be normal…”

Two months in and Brooke’s schedule was never the same as his. She would leave at six in the morning and arrive back home to a living room full of boys yelling at video games. Noah would be gone for three days in New York and she invited her friend Shanna over who just gushed that ‘everything smelled like Peter Kavinsky’. They went to eat with groups of friends, went shopping with people, her mom and sister visited for a few days and he invited her to the movies with Jack and him.

One day their schedules collided, both heading to work out at the same time. “Come with me to Unbreakable, do some boxing.”

“I’m more of a hot yoga type.”

“C’mon, try something new.” He nudged her shoulder as she grabbed a banana off the counter. “It’s fun, you’ll get muscles and cardio at once.”

“Fine. You want a banana?” She asked, tossing one to him as he nodded and following him out to his car.

Two hours later they were both laying on the floor of Unbreakable Performance Gym, out of breath from the trainer doing fast sets with them.

Brooke held her hands over her face, trying to catch her breath and gain feeling back in her legs. “Told you it’d be fun.”

“Yeah, loads of fun.” She felt someone sit next to her and water dripped on her chest.

Her eyes opened quickly to see Noah holding a cup of water over her, “Drink.”

“I can’t even sit up.”

Noah groaned and sat the cups down, grabbing her hands and pulling her to sit up. “Hot yoga must not be much of a workout?”

“It’s more of a relaxing work out.”

“Punching things isn’t relaxing?”

“Two different types of relaxing.” She agreed.

“Big workout with Noah Cent today!” The trainer videoed them, walking in a circle. “It hit Brooke a little hard or I might have just gone a little tough on her for her first day.”

“Not fair!” She pointed right at the camera before drinking her water in one gulp. “Totally not fair.”

They headed home, grabbing food on the way. Brooke tried to stay awake and get some work done but as she did some internet research in the living room while watching Noah play video games, she fell asleep.

She woke up on the same couch. Her computer was on the table next to her and a blanket was draped over her body.

“Bout time.” Noah laughed, “It’s almost four.”

Brooke fidgeted with her phone, “What are you doing?”

“Scripts.” He pointed to the pile next to him, “I need to read through them all and see what I’m interested in.”

“Got any for a girl that can’t feel her legs or arms… orrrr whole body?” She groaned sitting up, “I’m going to get a hot shower.”

“If you want to take a bath there’s a tub in my bathroom. Tay left some bath bombs or something in the cabinet that I will never use.”

Brooke didn’t object his offer knowing his bath tub was loaded with jets and could fit about four people at one time. Hot water ran, bubbles piled up, bath bomb fizzed under the water leaving glitter in its path as she tried to relax her sore muscles.

“Hey B, did you fill the fridge?” Noah asked, staring at the contents, “I swear there wasn’t any milk, yogurt or fruit here yesterday.”

She paused on her way out the door, “You said yesterday, I wish we had yogurt and fruit and so when I went to get a few things I grabbed yogurt and fruit.” She shrugged, closing the door behind her.

“I thought tonight was video game night or something?” Brooke asked, passing Noah on his way out the door. “Usually there’s a bunch of dudes here—

“Oh, you said you had some friends coming over for the finale of that show you watch, so I told Jackson we needed to play at his house.”

The door closed before she saw a perfectly clean living room, no video game controllers in sight. The fridge not only had her bottle of wine but a few more plus her favorite snack, strawberries dipped in chocolate.

Brooke: Did you really supply the wine and snacks for The Bachelorette finale?

Noah: I figure we’ve ruined enough of your girl’s nights yelling at Fortnite so I thought I’d be nice.

Brooke: You didn’t have to! But thank you! We’re all enjoying it. :)

“Wait, don’t come in!” Brooke yelled as she heard the front door open. Noah froze mid way, “Just, stand by the door and don’t come any further!”

She hustled around the kitchen, finishing icing on the cake and checking the clock, “You said you wouldn’t be home for another two hours!”

“They cut my last scene for the day, so I’m early. Do I need to leave? Do you have someone here? I ca—

“No, just give me one second!” She lit a candle and pushed the pan to the edge of the counter. She caught her reflection in the glare of her iPhone before looking down at her outfit; icing on her cheek, her hair tied up out of the way from baking, barely any makeup on, an old t-shirt she found and a pair of leggings.

Brooke had planned to look a little better as she threw a ‘mini red carpet’ for Noah since his movie came out on iTunes that he filmed two years ago. She had remembered hearing all about it and saw it never released until now.

The cake was white with a red square across it, a toothpick with a picture of Noah’s head was poked in the top of it, ‘SWIPED’ written in black icing, below it ‘#2 on iTunes all day’ was written in chicken scratch of leftover red icing.

“Okay, you can come in.”

Noah turned the corner slowly and a party popper went off in the air, “Happy movie release day!”

“Oh yeah, it came out today.” He reminded himself, laughing at the cake. “This is awesome, thank you.”

“I was going to make it fancier in here, I had a whole red carpet planned but you came home and you don’t have a red carpet.” She kicked the rolled up red rug that set on the floor.

“No, no, this is fine. This is amazing. The last time anyone did this was… the Austin and Ally episode.” They both laughed, “You and your sister’s made that horrible cake and you all threw it at me before we all watched it.”

“I promise this cake is much better.” Brooke pointed to the box of ready made mix that sat on the counter, “And I wanted to make this like the Austin and Ally party. Every movie needs a red carpet.”

“I mean they’re fun but Swiped was such a small budget. I didn’t even think it was going to come out after that long of waiting.”

Brooke looked in the reflection of the microwave and tried to fix the messy bun on top of her head, but there was no hope for it. “I look like complete shit.” She wiped under her eyes, remnants of mascara were smudged below her lashes. “I should have—

“You look fine.”

“Huh?” She turned around, picking a piece of dry icing off the back of her hand.

“You said you look like shit and I was saying, you look fine.” He leaned on the counter near the cake, “You always do.”

“I look like I have slaved over this damn—

“Shut up, Brooke. You’re beautiful. You never look like shit.” She finally looked up from her red stained hands and made eye contact with him, “What?”

“I mean... I just... thanks?” She awkwardly leaned on the counter opposite of him, “Even though like my hair—

“No, no, no, stop. You look fine.” He stood up and gestured to the cake. “This is more than you needed to do. Thank you.”

He opened his arms for a hug but Brooke barely looked at him, “Oh, sorry...” She stopped herself from rambling and quickly hugged him. Her stomach flipped and her face went hot as his arms wrapped around her, they hadn’t hugged in a long time. Since he left to move to California; when they were sixteen.

“You even smell like cake.” He mumbled into the top of her messy hair. “You need to stop being so negative about yourself.”

“Huh?” Brooke asked, pushing herself back from him.

“You constantly put yourself down, I hate it.”

“I don’t realize I’m doing it. I’m my biggest critic, I guess.” She tried to laugh it off, “Speaking of, I suck at alphabetizing and need to get a whole box done before work tomorrow, so I’m gunna…” She pointed behind her, “Enjoy the cake.”

“Do you—“ He paused, hearing her door close, “Want a piece?” Noah mumbled to himself, sticking his finger in the top of the icing and licking it off.

“Wow a house party, is this the LA life style?” Brooke joked, walking in after work. People flooded their kitchen and living room, “Excuse me…. excuse me… oh hey, Kyle… where did that ping pong table come from?”

“We bought it today!” Noah yelled, trying to shoot a ping pong ball backwards into a red cup. “You better not hide in your room.”

“I’m just going to put my stuff down.”

After forty minutes of ‘putting her stuff down’ and two interruptions from Kyle and Jack she finally made her way to the living room.

Brooke recognized a few girls and chatted with them while she downed a few glasses of wine. Kyle got her to open a cabinet which he ‘iced’ her with and she got him back by hiding one behind the radio and asking him to change the song.

“Everyone in here! Game time!” Jack yelled, standing on the ping pong table. Chairs pulled up around it, the couch was drug towards it and a few people stood.

“It’s an easy game just read the card you pick out loud and do whatever it says, kapeesh?”

Brooke walked in as piles of cards were being sat around the table. Two guys did rock, paper, scissors to decide who would go first.

“Brooke! Over here!” Noah waved from their couch which was parked at one end of the table. She balanced a beer and a hard cider in one hand while she weaved in and out of the people waiting their turn.

“Scoot over!” She yelled at the company on the couch, “Guys! Move over, I’m sitting here.” She pointed next to Noah and watched Jack yell at the person drawing a card. “I’ll go get a chair out of my room—

“Just sit.” Noah opened his arms and looked at his lap.

Brooke did a bit of thinking, taking time to watch a girl chug the rest of her beer before she sat down on his legs. “On a scale of one to Jack, how drunk are you?”

Noah closed his eyes and thought, “Six? You?”

“On a scale of one to Jack, I’m about a four.”

“BROOKE!” She turned and looked at the table, everyone was looking back. “Brooke I nominated you to drink.”

She tipped her cup back and finished the beer, tossing the empty cup on the table before drawing her own card. “Person to my right has to chug.”

“Noah!” Kyle yelled.

“Kyle!” Noah yelled.

She looked at the both of them before Noah spoke, “Technically, I’m underneath her.”

Without an argument Kyle chugged his drink and picked his card.

The pile of cards was endless. People were dancing, singing, drinking, making other people drink and some had left as it was already around one in the morning.

“There’s no fucking way I’m getting into an uber and riding somewhere when my bed is fifteen feet away from me.” Brooke groaned, leaning back on Noah. “Please tell me you’re not because I don’t want to get up—

“I’m starving so I am.” He laughed, wrapping his arms around her and standing up, “The diner is right down the road, are you sure?”

“My bed is right there.” She pointed to a door across the room.

An hour and a half later Noah, Jack and Kyle came back in the apartment, begging for a bed, couch, or “literally anywhere with a blanket”.

“Couch!” Noah pointed to the living room, choosing to ignore the mess in the kitchen and just turn the lights off. “I’ll be in my—

“If she’s sleeping here I am one hundred percent taking her bed.” Kyle pointed to Brooke asleep on the couch that still sat at the end of the ping pong table.

“She will kill you.” Noah laughed, making his way towards them, “B, come on, go to your bed before Kyle gets in it.”

“Don’t fucking touch my bed.”

“Then get up!”

“C’mon..” Noah grabbed her hands and pulled her up. Brooke stumbled and fell into the ping pong table, blaming Noah. “Ten feet away.” He wrapped his arms around her and guided her to her room, “Do you want to—

Brooke groaned and tugged her shirt off, tossing it across the room. “Ohhhh kay, Brooke. I will see—

“Take my shoes off.” She demanded from the edge of the bed, holding her boot up in the air.

Noah cautiously tugged at the black leather before grabbing the other one, sitting both of them beside her bed.

“Can you get the red sweatshirt from my closet?” She yawned, pushing her covers back. Noah walked to the closet, pulling the red sweatshirt from a shelf.

By the time he turned around her pants were off and she was under the covers, “Do you still want this?”

Her hand stuck out and she grabbed the fabric, pulling it towards her, “Thanks babe.” “You’re welcome?” He laughed, “You’re going to feel like shit in the morning.”

“Happy birthday, Noelle!” A group of girls yelled, snapping pictures, boomerangs and video of their friend blowing out candles on a cake.

They all shuffled around taking selfies, posting before they went out, eating cupcakes and continuing their drinking from the dinner they had just gotten home from.

Brooke left the girls to chat and ventured down the hall, “Hey No…” She knocked on his bedroom door, “Noah?” She opened it when he told her to come in, “We’re about to leave, can you take a group picture of us?”

“For sure.” He tossed his book on his bed and followed her down the hall.

“Noah!!” They all screamed as he walked in.

He laughed and said hi, “I’m just here to take a picture.” He held up Brooke’s phone. The girls all moved around, getting into a row of six, “Smile!”

“Okay but we need a serious one too.” He took a few more.

“And a funny one!” He took three or four.

“Try a candid!” Another suggested. They all moved and talked while he continued taking pictures.

“Bus is here!” One yelled, looking at her phone. “Get your birthday sash on, Nora!”

In no time they all had gone out the door and down the drive way, “Thanks.” Brooke smiled, taking her phone from Noah. “Be honest with me. Do I look like a slut or just like.... an average LA girl?”

He took a few steps back and looked her up and down, “You look better than an average LA girl but a little on the provocative side.” He saw her face change, “It’s not a bad side, it’s good. You deserve to show off your lil boxing abs.”

Brooke glanced down at her flat stomach, a few abs finally poking through from weeks of early morning boxing.

“And I like your hair up.”

She looked back at him, the ponytail swinging behind her. “Thanks. I trusted Jen with my hair and makeup.”

She kept glancing in the reflection of the fridge next to her, fidgeting with lipstick and mascara. Noah kept looking at her, taking her in head to toe, “Are you going to go?”

“Oh yeah.” She tossed her lipstick in her clutch, “Everyone’s going to their own houses when we’re done so it’ll only be me coming home.”

“Why do you keep pulling at your outfit?”

Brooke caught herself tugging at the cleavage of her shirt, “I just.. I’m not used to the top or bottom.. or shoes. I feel like everything is hanging out.” She laughed, pulling at the bottom of her skirt. “Is my butt hanging out?”

Noah laughed, watching her spin around, “Not at all.”

“It’s dark in the club too, no one will even see anything.”

“You’re right.”

“I’ll just stand in the middle of everyone.”

“Good plan.”

“How are they so comfortable in like no cloth—

“Brooke, they’re all waiting on you. Call me if you need a ride.”

“Oh shoot, yes. Bye!” She tried her best to walk fast in her heels, slamming the door behind her.

Different pictures were posted all night on each girl’s profile.

@brookeitsme: Happy Birthday @NO_L !

—@ncentineo: photo cred: ME

A picture of Brooke and Jen hugging in the girl’s bathroom.

@brookeitsme: MY H&MUA BABE @jennyfaye

—@ncentineo: team ponytail

A picture of Brooke behind the DJ booth with his head phones on.

@brookeitsme: How did I end up at the DJ booth?

—@ncentineo: 😍

“Brooookieeee I’m going home with you so I can go find Noah.” Her friend Steph mumbled in her ear, holding onto her arm. “Let him take more pics of me if you know what I mean.”

“Nice try but Noah’s after Brooke.” Jen laughed, helping steady Steph.

Brooke almost spat out her drink, “What? No he’s not. Oh my god.”

“Are you oblivious? To the both of you?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Yeah..” Steph got closer to them, “What are you talking about? Because I want th—

“Have you been on instagram? Seen the notifications?” Jen grabbed her phone out and began typing and searching. Brooke had her notifications off since people realized she lived with Noah. Her instagram was non-stop so every notification was annoying.

“He commented on all three pictures you posted. The one of you has a HEART EYE EMOJI.” Jen put the phone in her face, “And he likes your ponytail.”

“Yeah he told me that earlier.”

“Did you see the look on his face when he looks at you? Do you pay attention?” Jen laughed, “You too! You get the melty look when he’s around. I’ve only seen you like that one other time and it’s when we saw Zac Efron at The Grove.”

“And he’s always complimenting you.” Steph added, “I get SO jealous. Like isn’t my outfit hot enough for Mr. Noah Centineo??”

“Ask any of us, we’ve all noticed it.” She pointed to their table of friends, “Right, Meg? Noah and Brooke?”

“Oh their constant oblivious flirting?”

“Are you all joking? You planned this. I told you all I didn’t like him that way—

“You didn’t. Past tense.” Steph pointed out, still leaning on Jen for balance. “What about now?”

“We’ve been friends forever, there’s nothing more than that—

“She didn’t say no.” Jen smirked, “Have you even been looking at apartments to move out?”

“We went a few times but…”

“But what?”

“Noah didn’t like the ‘area’ I had picked out.” Brooke looked down at her heels, “It was sketchy or something.”

“What about the other time?”

“It was too far from his place.”

“What did he say before you left?”

“To call him if I needed a ride.”

“BROOKE!” It seemed like they all yelled her name at her, “COME ON!”

“What? It’s what friends do…”

“When we went to eat the other day he was allllll about you.” Meg said, “He drove us, paid for your food, drove an extra like forty minutes to get you your favorite tea and then carried your to-go food in the house.”

“Well when you point it all out…”

“And you told me about the day he said you were beautiful.” Another friend spoke up, “That you always look beautiful.”

“It was because—

“He said he loved your laugh at that party one night. He let you sit on his lap. He kept wrapping his arm around you. You almost fell asleep on him. He helped you change before you went to bed….”

“He calls you B all the time, even to his friends. Ster told me.”

“You always talk about him too.” Jen laughed, wrapping her arm around Brooke’s shoulder, “You always see movies with him and go eat with him and sit at home and watch shows with him and you’d rather order pizza in than go meet me for lunch and then I find out Noah’s home. When he’s not there you always ask to stay with one of us…."

“Why are you all just telling me this now?!” Brooke asked, overwhelmed.

“We thought you would catch on at some point.” Meg laughed, “Apparently not.”

“First of all, rude. Second, where is Noelle?”

“She left with that youtube guy she’s been seeing.” Steph downed a glass of water, “I’ve been waiting to go home with you but now I won’t be inviting myself.”

“Meg was trying to get the attention of homeboy over there but his friend keeps winking at her.”

“I’m here for moral support of everyone and their decisions.” Jen said, “And to make sure we all get a ride home.”

“Can we drink a little more, not you Steph, and dance a little more before I have to go home realizing everything you’ve all just thrown at me?”

Two hours and two bottles later they were all on their phones ordering rides, “No, don’t get an uber.” Meg covered Brooke’s phone, “I asked Noah to come get you.”

“MEG!” She whined.

“BROOOOOKE!” She mimicked her, “You live in the hills and fares are tripled right now. All of us live downtown except for Steph who’s going with me tonight. He’ll be here in like ten minutes.”

Brooke flipped to her texts with Noah and clicked the info button, a map popped up of where he was at that exact moment.

“You’re tracking him?”

“We both share locations in case I get stolen and sent over seas to be sold as a sex.” Brooke explained, “It’s a big fear of mine... He’s right down the road.”

“My car is almost here, I’ll get Steph and we can go wait outside with you.”

The little breeze was welcomed on their skin as they exited the muggy, hot club. They ignored the random guys who shouted at them and stood down from the door, watching for their rides.

“Really, man?” Meg asked, rolling her eyes at the guy who kept looking at them. “We’re probably half your age, leave us alone.”

“I’m always looking for Sugar Babies.”

“You’re disgusting.”

“Just an offer for—

“We’re not interested, please leave us al—

“But the three of you can—

“Please, leave us alone.” Meg tried to look around him for the specific car picking them up.

“I was just—

“Oh my fucking god, stop it!” She screamed, grabbing Broke and Steph’s hands. “Please move so we can cross the street.”

The man didn’t move, he kept looking at all three of them; up and down, up and down.

“Excuse me, sir. Please move so the ladies can get through.” Brooke looked up at the familiar voice and Noah stood there with his hand out. She grabbed it and stepped aside the guy; pulling her friends with her.

“Oh my god, thank you, thank you.” Meg sighed, “I was losing all will power not to punch him in the face.”

“I parked across the street and saw you all with him. Figured it wasn’t going well. Do you guys have a ride?”

“Yeah” Meg looked at her phone, “Black Ford Escape, license plate Y35— right there.” She pointed up a few cars. “Thanks, Noah.”

“Yeah, thanks.” Steph grinned, following Meg to the car.

Brooke grabbbed onto Noah’s arm and rest her head on his shoulder. “I feel like I’m on a boat.”

“You’re a little wobbly but I’ve seen you worse.” He joked. “Seems like you guys had a fun time?”

“Yeah, even though Noelle left with some dude early on. We kept the party going.” She laughed.

“I saw the DJ booth picture, did you have a good set? Play some jams?”

“Killed it. Got a job offer immediately. I even did the one head phone on and one off, felt like a real DJ.”

The car ride home they chatted. She told funny stories of the night, he asked about certain instagram stories, she played a new song she heard and he even stopped by McDonalds so she could have french friends and a Coke.

Her phone started firing away, their group message was blowing up. “Oh fuck off.” She mumbled, shoving it back in her bag, hearing dings continue to go off.

Meg: Snuck a picture of our favorites. *picture*

Jen: SHUT UP I DID TOO *picture*

Meg: Great minds think alike.

Steph: I told her it was creepy, she made the uber driver slow down.

Noelle: BROOKIE that’s so cute.

Steph: He was so hot in sweatpants and a hoodie.

Jen: Are you alive, Brooke?

Noelle: Is she finally getting the D?

Steph: He deserves it from someone tonight.

Meg: NOELLE! lolololol but really

Jen: She’s going to kill all of you.

Steph: Not if she gets good enough D.

Steph: She’ll be a happy B.

Meg: Happy B because of the D

Noelle: HAPPY B BC OF D OF NOAH C

Meg: Shut up Noelle I hate us.

Jen: I truly wonder what’s happening. Maybe she’s just ignoring us?

Steph: Maybe she fell asleep?

Meg: Maybe she’s finally getting the french fries she’s begged for all night.

Noelle: I still think she’s getting it onnnnn.

Noelle: And then she’s gotta tell us every detail.

Steph: Literally every detail. I need to know these things.

Brooke pulled up the photos and swiped back and forth. Meg’s was a view from behind of her leaning on Noah’s arm as they walked to his car. Jen’s was from across the street as he let her in his passenger door.

Brooke: You all are sneaky little bitches. I finally got my french fries and Coke. We aren’t even home yet you freaks. Of course I could tell you some details if THAT EVER HAPPENED but he’s just driving me home. I could fall asleep at any moment though.

She recorded a video with random alternative music playing as she ate french fries, her lipstick was half off her lips as she sipped her drink and put it back in the middle console. As she bopped her head to the beat a random hand snuck into her french fry bag and stole some. She followed him with the camera and Noah smiled as he snuck them all in his mouth, looking at the road.

Meg: Brooke you are living the dream.

Jen: I want a guy that gets me french fries.

Steph: I just want a guy.

Noelle: His little smirk he does at you!! I can’t take it!!

Jen: Do you see it now, B? Are you noticing things?

Brooke: I’m noticing that he carried my shoes inside and made sure I didn’t fall up the stairs.

Brooke: He offered to make me a BATH but I’m too lazy so I’m just laying on the couch resembling a dead body.

Noelle: GET. IN. THE. BATH.

Meg: Fuck youuuu, B. I’ll come take a bubble bath.

Jen: It’s funny because I know exactly what you look like right now without even seeing it.

Brooke: Oh you can see. Noah took this picture of me. *picture*

One leg hung off the couch, one was up on a pillow, her bag of french fries on her chest and her ponytail was let down, giving her a major bad hair moment.

Steph: Brooke you’re a dream girl.

Jen: I like your smudged lipstick.

Brooke: IT’S FROM EATING.

Meg: You do kind of look dead. Dead but enjoying fries.

Noelle: Can I use this as album cover art? I’m not even joking.

Noelle: 100% would use this for a single. Black and white.

Brooke: I give you my drunk permission to use it as an album cover but don’t forget to thank me when you win album of the year.

Jen: The party girl song, Noelle! The one you played a clip of on our way to Brooke’s.

Noelle: SHUT UP YOU’RE RIGHT

Meg: Wait, why did he take that picture of you? To prove you’re a mess? lol

Brooke: Because I told him not to speak of how messy I look right now so he CAPTURED IT FOREVER.

Jen: Can’t wait to frame it at your wedding.

Brooke: TOO FAR JEN

Brooke: I’m going to throw my phone in the toilet so there’s no chance that Noah ever sees these messages.

Brooke: He could easily look right now because he’s right next to me.

Meg: Feet or head?

Noelle: Head or feet?!?!???

Jen: Both of you can stop being twins.

Brooke: ………

Brooke: …….

Brooke …… I may be resting my head on his lap.

Brooke: He wanted more fries and thankfully I ordered two larges.

Meg: Stop texting us and talk to him.

Steph: Just turn your head over and go to wooooork!!

Jen: He put you on his instagram story. I’M DYING.

A black and white picture of Brooke from the neck down with the caption: “Two large fries and a coke, please.” You couldn’t even tell she was laying on his lap, but all of her friends knew.

“Oh fuck youuuuu.” She groaned, looking up at him, “I look so stupid and drunk.”

“No one even knows it’s you.”

“Jen did.”

“Okay well your outfit may give it away.” He shrugged, “It’s just funny you’re so content eating french fries right now.”

“I love french fries.”

“I know.” He smiled, continuing to look at her. Without a word he wiped his finger along her face, trying to remove the stain of lip stick she had smeared while eating.

“It’s a lip stain.” She laughed.

He tried to wipe it again, pushing harder. “They don’t joke when they say stain.”

“It’s three in the morning.” Brooke groaned, “I need to get up and wash my face and change and probably brush my hair and probably go to bed.”

“You definitely need to go to bed.” He pushed a hair from her face, “And wash your face or you’ll be angry when you wake up. Do you want to go to brunch whenever you wake up?”

“If there’s bacon involved, yes.”

“Those are like.. front row…”

“It’s called court side, but yes.” Noah laughed, “Please go?”

“Doesn’t Jack or like.. any of your guy friends want to go?” Brooke asked, sitting cross legged on the kitchen counter, eating a bag of pretzels. “Not that I don’t want to but I’m sure they’d be willing.”

“But I want you to go.” He leaned on the counter next to hear, flipping the two tickets in his hands. “Please?”

“How much time do I have to get ready?”

He glanced at the clock on the microwave, “Two hours.” He smiled up at her, shaking the gold and purple tickets. “We can go eat anywhere afterwards.”

“Anywhere?”

“Anywhere…” He sighed, tilting his head on her leg, “Please just tell me you’ll go. Because I really want to go.”

“Awwww..” She messed with his hair, “He really wants to go.” She frowned, “If he gives me forty-five minutes I can be ready for a Laker game and In and Out.”

Brooke filmed the outside of the arena as they walked in their ‘private’ door before Noah put his face right in front of the camera and yelled, “GO LAKERS”.

Paparazzi caught them as they entered, Noah guided Brooke with his hand on her back, not answering any of the questions they were yelling.

As they entered the building they ran into someone Noah knew immediately, “Noah Centineo…” James Cordon shook his hand, his other held onto his son who was sporting a bright gold Laker’s jersey.

“Nice to see you again, James.” He waved down at the boy, “Hey little man.”

“This is my son, Max. He loves basketball games.” Max looked up at the both of them, “He has no idea what’s going on.”

“This is my friend, Brooke.” He put his hand on her back as she shook James’ hand. “It’s her first Laker’s game. She also loves basketball.”

James took a picture of the four of them and shared it on his instagram. Both Brooke and Noah shared it to their stories as they sat down. A few fans noticed Noah and yelled at him across the court before the game started.

Brooke’s friends were texting her that she was on TV a lot and she had to laugh at some of the screen shots she got sent to her. But one caught her eye, it zoomed in on Noah and had a title on the TV screen, “Movie Star Noah Centineo” to inform all that were watching that he was there.

But Brooke didn’t notice that. Neither did her friends. They noticed his hand on her thigh, sitting there nonchalantly as they watched the game and didn’t see the camera zooming in across the court.

People caught pictures of them laughing together, Brooke whispering something in his ear, him stealing her popcorn, her resting her head on his shoulder for a selfie and of course, the internet went wild.

They were a trending topic, every news outlet had them on the front page, her instagram ‘tagged’ page kept continuously changing as his fan accounts posted images.

Neither of them spoke a word. They smirked at each other as they left their seats after the game, she grabbed his arm and followed him through the crowded halls till they were outside. They needed to make it to the parking lot next to the stadium which required leaving the gated space and entering the public.

It seemed like hours but Brooke finally got her hands on In and Out, snacking on it as they made their way home and onto the kitchen counter where they ate most of their meals late at night.

“All of these pictures of us. Endless instagram opportunities. Good thing I wore a good outfit.” She scrolled through her instagram tags and saved a few, sipping the end of her milkshake.

Her feet dangled off the side of the counter as she answered back her million texts from friends. Normally she would hate the attention but for some reason she didn’t even care.

“Oh, this one’s cute.” She showed Noah her phone, a shot of them exiting the venue, holding hands, both smiling; until her phone started ringing ‘MOM’.

“Don’t tell anyone that I’m muting her call right now, I don’t want to talk anymore. She’s called me three times today.”

“What about?”

“She said since it’s been six months I need to move out so she’s going to come out here to look for apartments with me since I can’t ‘do it on my own like an adult’.” She rolled her eyes, “My mom has no idea about apartments or neighborhoods around here.”

“So she wants you to move out?”

“It’s been six whole months.” She mimicked her mom, shaking her head. “Like I get it, but I really don’t want her to come help. She’ll be checking crime reports and make me get a place somewhere expensive so I’m not in danger.”

“You’re in danger everywhere in LA, does she know that?” He laughed, tossing their empty bags away before standing in front of her. “You’ll be in a cardboard box in Calabasas if she bases it off safety.”

“I’ve told her that so many times.” Brooke groaned, pushing her phone to the side as her mom texted her.

“How about you tell her something else?”

“What? Tell her I’m moving home? Tell her I’m moving to the neighborhood full of gangs? Tell her I’m movi—

“Tell her I don’t want you to move out.” He rested his hands on her knees. “I want you here… with me…”

Brooke tried to hide her smile, “I’m sure that’ll go over well.”

“It’s safer than living alone, right?” His hands moved up the side of her legs, “Security system, good neighborhood, you’ve been here for six months already so why move?”

Brooke grabbed his cheeks, “Because it’s been six whole months.” She mimicked her mom again, watching him laugh and push his face against her hands. “You’re not serious, are you?”

“I’m very serious.” He moved closer, his hands went around her bottom and he rested his body between her legs, “I don’t want you to move out. I want you to stay here.”

“Wouldn’t it be… tricky… to continue…. this…. and for me to live with you?”

“It would be opposite of tricky, it’d be easier.” He winked, “Not that I would tell your mom that.”

“Oh now you’re going to talk to my mom about it?” She laughed, “Go ahead.”

“Hi, I don’t want Brooke to move out… I promise she’s not a pain…” He faked being on the phone, “No, no, I’m not just being nice…. yes I’m talking about the same Brooke…..” He fake laughed as her hands fell around his neck, “No she’s not annoying… opposite actually…” Brooke laughed, “….my friends get along with her fine, I promise… it’s just that…. I don’t want her to move out.. I think I’ve realized in the past…” he checked a fake watch, “...six years. That I really like Brooke… like reallllly like her.”

Brooke’s eyebrows rose up at the statement before she whispered back to him, “And I realllllly like you, Noah.”

He hung up his fake phone and stood up in front of her. He bit his lip and held back a laugh, looking down at her. His hand went up to her neck as he brought his face down to hers and they kissed.

For the first time in six years, they kissed.

“So you’ll tell your mom…?” He asked, his thumb rubbing along her jaw.

“That I’m not moving.”

“Perrrrfect.” He smiled, picking her up and carrying her down the hall, kicking his door open, “I hope you don’t mind sleeping in here tonight.”

“Every night.” She quickly said back, tightening her grip on the curls at the top of his neck.

It made Noah stop in the middle of his room and smile before dropping her on to his bed and falling on top of her before repeating, “Every night.”

#me #mine #fanfic #noah #noah centineo #tatbilb #peter kavinsky #imagine #writing #write #Sierra Burgess is a Loser #jamey #charlies angels #the stand in #swiped #valet #fanfiction

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monsters-demons-and-ai-oh-my · 5 years

Text

What We Lost and What We Have:

Chapter 6: Sock puppets, stomachaches, and what you really learn in college

In which we meet a very strange nurse, talk about teen drug use and the plot thickens.

TW: Conversations about recreational drugs, questions about suicidal intentions, and brief mention of throwing up

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AU somewhat inspired by Episode 2x20 - What Is and What Should Never Be, and the season 14 storyline concerning Jack’s illness.

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AO3 Link

Previous Chapter

First Chapter

Complete Tumblr Chapter List

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Sam and Dean both decided to give the Kline’s a little space after after the incident with Jack’s lunch tray. Ironically both brothers using the excuse that they hadn’t had anything to eat since they arrived early that morning.

Jack seemed on the verge of mortified tears afterward and for selfish reasons or not neither wanted to be the one to push him over the edge.

The kid was already embarrassed enough.

The doctor had told the brothers (much to Dean’s chagrin) that at least one of them should come back in later that evening as they had a few more background questions for all of them once Jack had a chance to rest.

There was only so much the doctor was willing to do when they still didn’t know what was causing Jack’s symptoms but when Jack’s nausea refused to fade and several more bouts dry heaving literally drove Jack to tears they finally gave him anti-nausea drugs that had the added benefit of finally putting him back to sleep.

Getting a few hours of rest (plus something new the doctor gave him via IV to help with the fact he hadn’t eaten for a day and a half) seemed to perk Jack up a bit. At the very least Jack seemed a lot more calm when he woke up around three hours later.

Though, that could have also been the low dose of narcotic painkillers doctor Hannah also decided to give despite the risks when Jack’s stomach pain was bad enough to cause his heart rate to skyrocket.

It wasn’t enough narcotics to make Jack start accusing innocent staff members of being out to suck his blood again, but it was enough to render him quiet and subdued… and not at all like the Jack Castiel knew.

‘He could only watch and try to comfort Jack as he got sick and then hugged his stomach, literally crying with the pain the action caused him…’

A quiet Jack was better than a sobbing Jack, but it still terrified Cas.

It threw him back to sixteen years previously when Jack was first born, made him feel like he was failing Kelly all over again…

He remembered when Jack was four and a half and afraid of long clawed demons under his bed. ( strangely specific child that he was ) Then Castiel could consol him and promise to protect him from any monsters .

When Jack was seven and John died and Jack tried to run away from home, ( only getting so far as the neighbor down the street who lured him in with cookies and called Castiel ) he’d been able to reassure the traumatized boy that his parents and the people around him didn’t die because he was close to them.

“...you’re not cursed Jack, I promise… and I’m not planning on leaving you alone any time soon.”

But this…

Castiel couldn’t promise everything would be okay, he didn’t know how to fix this, he didn’t even know what this was…

Every little twitch Jack gave in his sleep, every harsh intake of breath was like an electric jolt to Cas’s heart, terrifying him that Jack would start seizing again.

By the time that Jack was awake again and Cas was able to call the Winchester’s back in he was thirty-six hours without sleep and felt on the verge of a mental breakdown.

“Med student party here yet?” Cas heard the now unfortunately familiar voice of Dean Winchester over his shoulder.

“No…” Cas said dully, hand tightening over Jack’s as he broke into another fit of harsh wheezy coughs.

‘The antibiotics either weren’t helping the pneumonia or were taking far too long to kick in for comfort.’

“I...I don’t really feel up to p-party,” Jack muttered with a tiny wry smile.

“You feeling any better buddy?” Sam’s voice was a little more tolerable.

“They gave me more drugs?” Jack said bluntly, perhaps the amount of pain meds he was given was still enough to make the teenager a more aloof if not completely loopy.

As scared as Jack must be Cas didn’t have it in him for him to be upset with Jack being a little… high, as it were.

‘Anything to keep away the horrible tears of pain.’

“They’re waiting for me to let them know you’re here…” Cas explained quickly to the brothers reaching for the nurse call button and using the moment to compose himself.

“I thought we were done with all the questions?” Dean sighed pacing by the window like nervous rather unimpressive tomcat not looking at anyone.

“Well apparently they didn’t get what they needed last time.” Cas tried not to think that more questions meant the doctors were at a loss with what answers they did get.

“It probably had something to do with you ‘scaring the crap’ out of the person who was recording them…” Cas glared choosing to believe that instead.

Dean’s eyes narrowed for a moment and he opened his mouth as if to say something scathing but Sam surprised Castiel by speaking up.

“Well whatever the reason pointing fingers won’t help anyone,” Sam said taking Dean’s old spot by the far end of the bed. It seemed like while Sam was rendered relatively unable to function when it came to Jack that same reservations did not stand for confronting his argumentative older brother or Castiel.

“So how about this time we all sit down, and shut up, and get this over with and then neither of you will have to see each other again if you don’t want to…” Sam said with an air of aggressive calm, folded his hands in his lap.

Jack eyes seemed to dart between each one of them tense and nervous, clutching at the sheets without a word.

Castiel felt a pang of guilt in his chest.

He and Dean took their seats… quietly.

They sat awkwardly like two children who’d just been chewed out by the principal until the silence was broken by a knock on the door.

Well… a series of knocks… to the tune of… Yankee Doodle?

Jack’s eyes darted between his uncle and the door like he wasn’t sure if he actually heard what he thought he heard or if the drugs were just kicking in.

“Come in?” Castiel said hesitantly.

The door opened and in stepped not the nervous med student, but another more suspicious looking individual.

Another… nurse?

“Hello,” said the strange skinny man in seemingly oversized giraffe print scrubs. He had a smile about as appropriate for the tense atmosphere as sunbather in a snowstorm, “My name is Garth but you can call me nurse Fitzgerald and I’m here to help Jack and you all with a patient history today.”

Dean shot Sam a confused look that was ignored.

“What happened to the other g-guy?” Jack hacked into the back of his hand, looking wary of having yet another stranger in his room.

"Well, Kevin was having a bit of a hard time, so the head nurse wanted someone with a bit more experience to finish it,” Nurse Fitz-… Garth shrugged the left sleeve of his scrubs dangerously close to sliding off his narrow shoulder, “they send me in when things get a little hinky,"

"Hinky?" Castiel's eyebrows rose.

"Well I say hinky," Garth smiled, "I think it's a much nicer word than the one nurse Master's used... that I won't use in front of a child.

The child in the room looked mildly offended.

"Or what was written on the chart," he picked up Jack’s chart clipboard off the end of the bed and flicked it significantly, “which is… ''disorderly"."

Dean scoffed, "Please, we weren't "disorderly”,” he drew quotation marks in the air.

The strange skinny man just continued to smile shrugging, "okay well you made poor Kevin cry in the on-call room so I wouldn't exactly call that "functional behavior"."

Dean’s mouth opened looking defensive but for a second time the words were lost behind an interruption.

“Sorry…” Jack said quietly, clearing his throat, “they… they mean well… I think…”

“We should… probably apologize to this Kevin though…” Castiel said sheepishly.

“Probably…” Dean muttered noncommittally refusing to look at Castiel.

“What’s that?” Sam spoke up suddenly sounding confused, everyone turning to see at what he pointing at.

I appeared to be a strange looking… sock with lips? hanging of Nurse Garth’s scrubs pocket.

“Oh him?” the nurse pulled the object out his pocket smiling at it fondly before slipping it over one hand, “This… is Mr. Fizzles.”

He opened and closed the sock puppet’s mouth in Jack’s general direction as the boy looked on warily pressed against his pillows.

“A lot of kids find a friend easier to talk to than a stranger, especially when in a big scary place like the hospital.”

He looked at Jack expectantly.

“I...I think I’ll pass…” the teenager said turning a little pink.

Garth seemed mildly disappointed but shrugged and surreptitiously tucked the sock back in his pocket picking back up the chart.

“Well Kevin’s handwriting started getting illegible at… drugs…” he looked up expectantly at Castiel’s affronted face.

“He had a tablet of ibuprofen about seven hours before the seizure and then a second four hours later, but no Jack does not do drugs,” Castiel said flatly.

“I think… he was asking Jack…” Sam said carefully watching Jack who was refusing to look back, scratching at the adhesive over the line in his arm.

“I don’t… do drugs…” Jack said quietly.

Castiel gave nurse Garth a satisfied “see” look.

“But there was… this one time,” Jack coughed sheepishly.

Everyone was suddenly staring at Jack who seemed to be trying to disappear into his hospital mattress.

“Jack…” Cas’s heart sunk more disappointed than angry, he didn’t have a chance to ask why before Jack cut him off seeming desperate to explain.

“It… it was just one time… Noah offered me a hit?” his eyebrows drew together and he looked unsure at the terminology, “of a joint he had?”

Dean gave an impressive little huff earning him a dirty look from Cas.

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t go to college…” Dean shrugged, shooting Sam a knowing smile he refused to return.

“It was just the one time though!” Jack said quickly looking at Cas pleadingly, “It was really, really gross and… and I never did it again!”

“Why wouldn’t you tell me?” Castiel asked exasperated, trying not to show Sam or Dean how hurt he was. What made it worse was he knew how stereotypical it was for a parent to think their teenager would never lie to them. Half the parent teacher conferences he had to call at the high school were dealing with people under such delusions.

“I… I didn’t want to get Noah in trouble…” Jack mumbled biting his lip and refusing to look Cas in the eye.

“Noah?” Castiel mentally ran over his shortlist of acquaintances Jack talked about and came up empty. “Wait… Noah Ophis?” Castiel felt completely at a loss when Jack’s blush seemed to confirm it, “Jack… wasn’t Noah the one who locked you in the school gym’s weight room and then stuck gum in the lock so we had to call maintenance to disassemble the door to get you out?”

“It… was never confirmed…” Jack muttered turning brighter red glancing back between his older brothers as if expecting them to laugh.

“How long ago did you ‘get silly with Mary Jane’?” Garth broke in on the tense moment seeming unbothered.

Jack looked extremely confused for a long moment, “Six… months ago?”

Garth wrote that down, “well it’s probably not that then, the devil’s lettuce only lasts like… a few hours, unless you snort it that’s worse...”

Castiel really did not believe that was an actual way people consumed marajauna… he had gone to college after all.

Cas suppressed the need to start in on a long speech about peer pressure, lying, and the dangers of underage recreational drug use (especially when you didn’t know the source), but now was not the time, not now with as Jack as sick as he was. He would be taking advantage of a secret Jack only willingly told because he was scared for his own safety, and Jack’s health might rely on him being honest with his doctors.

Though Cas was relieved when the next question was, just “Do you have any animal friends?”

He felt his confidence as a surrogate parent had taken enough of a hit for the moment.

“Well… I have Felix… but I don’t know if he thinks of me as a friend, I’ve read their brains can’t really process that sort of thing?” Jack’s eyebrows furrowed in thought.

Sam’s eyebrows rose nearly to his hairline.

Maybe the drugs had a stronger effect on Jack than Castiel first realized.

“What is Felix?” Sam looked completely at a loss.

Jack blinked, “A corn snake,” he said like it should be obvious.

Dean seemed to recoil slightly and then snorted, a very, “of course I’m going to judge the character of a kid I don’t know based on the fact he keeps a snake…” noise.

That was a big mistake… Castiel knew Jack was fairly shy but he’d been on the wrong end of one of Jack’s, “I must defend the honor of snakes everywhere,” speeches before when the Jack was first trying to convince his uncle to let him keep Felix.

“Felix is really great!” he insisted, probably louder than he should have judging by the short fit of coughs that followed. He cleared his throat before croaking, “N-not only do corn snakes eat d-disease carrying pests, they're really gentle, and they’re easy to breed in captivity, and they’re from the US so they... they don’t c-contribute to the… the e-exotic pet trade…”

Castiel remembered vividly Jack showing up in his classroom clutching a shoe box the day before winter break, nervous but determined. He’d gone into a spiel about how a boy had brought the snake to the lunch room to show it off but the boy was planning to kill it at the end of the day with a rock because he thought it was ‘kinder’.

“He said he couldn’t get it to eat, but! he only tried one thing and... and you can’t let him do that, he doesn’t deserve that…”

He’d practically begged Castiel to let him keep the snake, “even if it was just for a little while,” and then spent the next week researching and trying to feed it different things, bringing everything from bags of frozen mice to eggs and minnow into the house before he’d had success.

Cas remembered the huge grin on Jack’s face when he finally succeeded heard him whisper, “see you’re going to be okay now,” into Felix’s enclosure when he thought his uncle wasn’t watching.

Jack dissolved into another fit of coughing near the end of his snake rant, doubling up as Castiel laid a worried hand on his shoulder.

“Fine fine kid jeez…” Dean raised his hands in mock surrender, looking mildly alarmed, “I believe you, don’t lose a lung over it…”

“Snakes are great you’re just a mean,” Jack muttered breathily with one laugh hacking cough, sinking wearily back in his bed. The short bout of passion seemed to have taken a lot out of him.

“I don’t really like snakes, I’m sure they’re great but the way they look at me makes me nervous y'know?” Nurse Garth Gave a shiver, no one knew what he meant. “Also they can carry salmonella…”

The nurse spent the next half hour asking more questions of various degrees of embarrassment. Each answer the brother’s gave grew increasingly bored and each answer Jack gave getting softer as he grew increasingly drowsy.

Any energy Jack gained by resting seemed to run out of him like water through a sieve and soon he had fallen back asleep. Castiel knew seizures could take a lot out of a person but this? This felt different. He breathed deeply to calm himself down, told himself he never finished nursing school, let alone medical school like the doctor’s taking care of Jack.

‘He was in good hands…’

He carefully straightened Jack’s blankets, trying not to listen to the wheezy quality of Jack’s breathing even in sleep.

“Did you get all the answers you needed?” Castiel asked quietly, not wanting to interrupt and of the sleep the boy managed to get.

The nurse smiled looking a little too pleased with himself, “yup just about the entire thing, I don’t know what Kevin was upset about you all seem like very nice people.”

Dean looked up mildly guilt pulling his hand back from where he’d been trying to fish the sock puppet out of Garth’s pocket, while Sam hid his face in his hands. “Yeah… um… so it’s fine for us to take off now?”

‘Of course…’

Garth nodded satisfied, “yeah, visiting hours for everyone but parents are ending soon, and the kid looks like he’s had all the fun he can handle for today.”

Castiel just nodded in agreement trying not to seem to eager carefully fixing Jack’s mussed up hair, “I think he’s had enough of strangers for now…”

That was enough for Dean who left with one last indignant puff of air but Sam stayed back for a moment tettering as was his custom in the doorway.

“Call if something changes?” he asked, like he was half unsure he should say the words.

Cas offered a tight smile, “sure…”

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

Sam and Dean left for their home and hotel respectively the nurse leaving soon after to give Castiel and more importantly Jack some time to rest.

The nurses mostly let Jack be through the evening only coming in once or twice to record his vitals and give him more of the drugs the doctor prescribed earlier, Jack thankfully remained asleep during the visits.

He seemed mostly stable much to Cas’s relief though that could have just been due to the pain and nausea meds masking the worst of his symptoms. It wasn’t until Jack reached a full twenty-four hours without another seizure that Castiel finally let himself relax.

It wasn’t until much later, half past midnight that the doctor came in again.

Castiel had finally fallen asleep in a recliner chair one of the nurses graciously brought in when they realized he was staying with Jack for another night..

‘They’d explained it was standard practice for when a parent stayed with their child on the ward…’

He’d been woken rather unceremonious by doctor Hannah pulling a cumbersome looking machine into Jack’s room.

“What’s… What’s going on?” he asked dumbly rubbing at his face, the confusion quickly turning to alarm when he saw the look on the doctor’s face.

Her face was mostly calm, but her eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth was pressed in a thin tense line.

“I… need you to wake up Jack…” she said something worrying in her calm voice Castiel couldn’t quite identify.

Castiel immediately began to panic head snapping up to the monitor of Jack’s vitals. Everything seemed the same, except the fever which had risen to an even hundred degrees.

“Is… What’s wrong?” He asked in as hushed a tone as he could manage.

The doctor gave him a reassuring smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

“I just need to check something…” she said unhelpfully.

Castiel tried to breathe evenly and remain calm as he gently shook Jack’s shoulder.

‘What was so bad you’d wake a sick kid in the middle of the night?’

He gently shook Jack’s shoulder, calling his name, Jack barely moved, his eyes twitched and he let out a soft cough.

Castiel frowned shaking his shoulder a little more forcefully eliciting an unhappy groan from Jack as he rolled away as far as the tubing on his face would allow him.

‘At least it was confirmation he wasn’t comatose or something…’

“The painkillers he’s on can have a sedative effect,” she frowned, “it’s always best to try to wake someone up naturally but I did bring something if that doesn’t work.

She produced a set of keys from her pocket to unlock the set of rolling drawers the machine she brought was propped on top of.

“Wait,” Castiel quickly held up a hand, “there’s one thing I haven’t tried yet…” he leant down close to Jack’s ear, “Jack… come on you have to get up… we’re going to be late to school…”

Jack tensed up and groaned, “I… I don’t want to, I don’t feel good…” he grumbled face screwing up.

Cas huffed a sad laugh, gently ruffling his hair to keep him from falling back out, “I know Jack, but you still need to wake up.”

Jack finally blinked woefully up at him, “you said I didn’t have to go…” His croaked eyes wandered towards the window as he coughed to clear his throat, “it’s still dark out…” he muttered bewildered.

“I know, I know… you don’t have to go to school, you can go back to sleep... in a little bit?” Cas looked back toward the doctor who offered him another thin smile, neither confirming or denying.

“But doctor Hannah she needs to talk to us… for now, alright?” Castiel said still gently squeezing his shoulder...

Jack just blinked and nodded trustingly too tired to question it.

Doctor Hannah ducked down to his level whispering, “I’m going to turn on the lights now and I need you to roll on your side like before okay?”

Jack looked wary breath speeding up, “P-please don’t stick another needle in my back…”

“It’s okay Jack, I promise I’m not going to do that honey,” she said gently flipping on a switch and making everyone in the room wincing at the sudden brightness, “I just need to run an ultrasound on your back and abdomen…”

Jack looked even more confused, face morphing into mildly suspicion, “But… I can’t have babies?”

Doctor Hannah actually chucked, “No that’s not all we use ultrasound for, and that’s not what I’m looking for…”

“What are you looking for?” Castiel couldn’t hold himself back from asking, fidgeting in the recliner.

The doctor’s face dropped a little before she could stop it, “I’ll let you know if I see it, I… I don’t want to alarm you,”

Her eyes drifted back to Jack with an unspoken, ‘or him’ .

Jack’s eyebrows furrowed but he still did as he was told and the doctor guided him onto his side before pulling down the blanket to his waist and undoing the ties on the upper half of his hospital gown while he blushed pink.

When she carefully began to probed Jack’s back it became abundantly clear the medication didn’t completely numb his pain.

He barely held back a cry of pain between clenched teeth, reducing it to a strained groan, his whole body shaking.

Castiel reach for his hand which was clenched around the bed sheets. “It’s okay Jack… I’m here.”

“Th-that… that really hurts,” Jack mumbled tearfully.

“I know Jack I know…” the doctor said seemingly lost in thought

doing her best to move quickly through prep procedures for the ultrasound. Applying a plastic cover over the wand and spreading clear gel on a portion of his back.

Jack looked like he was trying not to scream when the doctor finally pressed the ultrasound wand into his back, teeth gritted together heart rate spiking.

The doctor’s eyes were fixed on the ultrasound screen beside the bed looking grim and Castiel wished not for the first time that he’d finished his degree so he’d know what she saw.

‘All he could do was hold Jack’s hand.’

“Shit…” he barely heard the doctor mutter as she set aside the wand and gingerly wiped away the gel on Jack’s back.

There were already already tears welling in Jack’s eyes when she had him turn back onto his back.

The doctor promised to be as quick and gentle as she could as she repeated the process with the upper part of Jack’s abdomen.

Jack was shaking and crying silently by the time it was over, and the doctor was if anything quieter.Terrifyingly lost in thought.

Castiel carefully helped him back into his gown, telling him softly that he did well and could go back to sleep soon.

Jack watched the doctor red eyed and wary gripping the blankets a little too tightly even as he wilted exhausted back against the bed.

The doctor waited until the teenager seemed to have calmed back down before speaking.

“Jack… I’m going to ask your uncle and you some questions and I need you to be as honest as possible, alright?”

The tone of doctor Hannah’s voice set off the already ringing alarm bells in Cas’s mind to a shrieking pitch.

Jack nodded cautiously, “O-okay…” he said shakily.

The doctor began pacing at the foot of his bed hands clasping anxiously at one another.

“You said Jack had a headache a few hours before he had a seizure at the restaurant and that you gave him ibuprofen for it, are you sure it was ibuprofen and not aspirin?”

Castiel blinked, “yes I’m sure I know better than to give a child aspirin, and I even remember the brand I bought, it was Advil…”

“It’s was a blue... package,” Jack said after a moment coughing into his elbow, exhaustion, and illness fogging his brain.

The doctor nodded and resumed her pacing, “and… how much did you give him?” she asked seeming careful about her phrasing.

“A lower dose, one tablet… and then another four hours later…” Castiel said suspiciously, “what is this about?”

The doctor hesitated, “did you see Jack take them both times?”

There was a long pause as Jack looked increasingly upset, “wh-what are you tr-trying to say?”

“What are you suggesting?” Castiel knew full well what she was asking but he couldn’t believe he’d heard it.

“I…” she paused and sighed, “I have to ask it’s very important.”

Jack seemed to understand despite everything, “I...I wouldn’t, I couldn’t d-do that I…” his breathing sped up.

“The first thing Jack asked about when he woke up was school and needing to take care of his pet? Does that really strike you as someone who would try to… to…” Cas paused, “to hurt themselves?”

“I… I was upset and sad after what happened but…” Jack’s forehead wrinkled again as his breathing grew more frantic and his heart rate rose with it, “I wouldn’t, I didn’t do that…” he muttered eyes pleading and filling back up with tears, “please believe me.”

“I know Jack… I do believe you,” Castiel reassured him gently squeezing his shoulder.

A thought dawned on Cas and he reached for his coat still hanging off the back of his chair, “he really physically couldn’t…”

Castiel pulled a small half crushed blue box from the pocket of the coat, “I didn’t even buy a bottle of pills they didn’t have any in the hotel commissary they only had it in a box of packets and there were only four pills to start with…”

‘The stupid box had cost a whole ten dollars regardless.’

He handed it over for the doctor to see, “and there’s still two left…”

The doctor looked in the box then checked the date on the bottom, but instead of looking relieved like Cas expected…”

She just looked... frustrated?

“Alright… I’m sorry, we had to rule that out as a possibility…” she sighed.

The apology did nothing to placate Jack, who just stared at her distrustfully tears running silently down his cheeks hugging himself still breathing too fast.

Castiel tried to resist the anger and resentment building up in his own chest he knew the doctor was just doing her job, but it was late and the already ill and drug addled Jack was not tolerating being woken in the middle of the night to be painfully prodded, cross examined, and accused of hurting himself very well.

He placed a protective hopefully comforting hand on Jack’s shoulder, “couldn’t you have just tested for a possible overdose in the blood samples you took instead of coming in here past midnight and harassing him?”

“If the problem was being caused by taking too much ibuprofen it would be important to find out and treat as soon as possible.”

“W-why?” Jack mumbled hunching forward red-eyed and shaking his breath coming out in uncomfortably fast puffs, “what… what’s wrong with me?”

He looked how Castiel felt, on the verge of panic.

“Jack, it’s alright I need you to calm down…” the doctor said looking warily between him and the vitals reading on the monitor.

‘That didn’t calm him down.’

“You… you don’t know d-do you?” Jack sobbed continuing to hyperventilate, heart beating about a mile a minute on the monitors, “y-you don’t…” he coughed, the developing panic attack not helping his already labored breathing, coughing soon turning to wheezing.

Castiel’s mouth became a thin anxious line as he wrapped a supportive arm around his shoulders.

“Jack?”

The doctor moved quickly back over to the locked set of drawers retrieving a vial and injecting something into Jack’s IV line, “it’s alright it’s okay… just try to breathe deeply Jack…”

Jack tried, leaning on his uncle tears running down his face even when his breathing slowed and he relaxed as whatever drug the doctor gave him took effect.

The doctor and Castiel gently helped him lean back into his pillows as his eyes blinked blearily, “it’s alright… just rest now… you’re alright…”

She didn’t look like even she believed what she was saying as he drifted quickly back into unconsciousness the rise and fall of his chest slowly evening back out.

Castiel felt as if a live wire was clenched between his teeth.

“What happening to Jack?” he managed an impossibly calm tone.

The doctor sighed taking a moment to steal herself before answering. “Most of the tests we have back so far… they came back inconclusive… There was no sign of meningitis or encephalitis in his spinal fluid, no… conclusive signs of infection in his blood at all…”

“But,” Castiel said feeling miles away.

“But… between the blood taken when he was first admitted and a few hours ago, we’ve found a significant increase in his liver enzymes and protein levels and if… they don’t improve in the next few hours I want to look at transferring him to Kansas University hospital…”

Castiel felt like the ground was dropping from beneath him, “and… the pain, what you were testing for just now that was…”

The doctor paused for an even longer moment before answering, “Jack’s liver and kidneys… are showing signs of inflammation… and the blood tests results are signs they’re starting to lose function…”

‘Failing… she meant they were beginning to fail’

“And you don’t know why…” Castiel mumbled numbly.

The doctor said nothing...

Notes:

Dun dun dun, and the plot thickens, hopefully the introduction of nurse Garth managed to lighten things up a bit before the darker second half and reveal.

If you enjoyed this chapter and have the time and/or inclination please let me know what you thought :)

#SPN #Supernatural #Castiel #Jack Kline #Dean Winchester #Sam Winchester #fanfiction #whump #humor #illness #family drama #garth fitzgerald iv #Hannah #TW drugs #TW vomit mention #only accusations of not an actual attempt of overdose #kylermalloy

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butterflydm · 5 years

Text

The Magicians Revisited: 1x01 Unauthorized Magic

I’m doing the rewatch with @themagiciansrevisited and I’ll be watching along probably until 4x10, which is where I’ve decided my own personal canon for the show will tap out. And because my brain likes to keep track of things, I’ll be rewatching again on my own after each group rewatch and write out the things that stand out for me, that I might want to remember. This is v. long, so I will pop it under a read more.

Significant moments: The first character we meet is Dean Fogg, who comes onto a NYC street through a portal from a more wooded area (I think it’s the area outside Brakebills). The door closes behind him without him needing to physically shut it. He meets up with “Eliza” (making Jane Chatwin the second major character we meet) and says, “You’re late”, which is going to echo in the later first meeting of Eliot and Quentin (and which was itself mirrored in the first meeting between “Kim” and Todd in 4x01). Being that time loops and timelines are such an important part of the show, it’s interesting to me that the importance of timing is set up so soon. And… it’s also possibly a nod to The Lord of the Rings.

Jane’s brought Fogg evidence that the Beast is already active in this timeline (a huge-ass moth). The NYPost that he’s reading looks to be dated October 18, 2015, which tracks with when the first episodes came out. Part of the implication in this conversation is that Jane wants Fogg to rush our group into Brakebills even though they aren’t in place to have it handled yet.

Jane shows particular concern over ‘our boy’, which I think we can take as read is Quentin, given how Jane directs her attention to Quentin fairly pointedly and given that we’re going to cut to him after this scene. Looking back, it’s interesting to think about how this relationship may have evolved from Jane’s PoV. She must have recognized Julia and Quentin as the Witch and the Fool as soon as they were old enough and got involved in the very first timeline, plus it’s possible she figured out somewhere along the way that Quentin was also the old man who gave her the Time Key in the first place. There are four major characters who remember the time loops, after all - Jane, Fogg, Martin, and Ember - so I’ll be paying particular attention during their scenes to see what they may drop as a hint to what happened in previous timelines.

This scene also mirrors, to a certain extent, the introductory McGonagall & Dumbledore scene at the beginning of Harry Potter. I suspect that’s intentional, given the series’s future interest in deconstructing various fantasy storylines and tropes. So, we have two authority figures who understand what’s to come and they have been deliberately attempting to shape this younger generation into a weapon to wield against the enemy that threatens them (and that comes from their own generation).

Quentin is the next major character introduced to us - he is in the Midtown Mental Health Clinic, which has a nice view of the Statue of Liberty. He’s thoughtlessly doing magic tricks with a coin. The show then cuts between him checking himself out of the clinic with a scene of him at a party at his apartment. Julia is introduced by noticing Q looking out of place at the party, and then he bails to go hang out alone in a bedroom and read which… yeah, same, Q, same. We see his pills, a comic book, some other books: bunch of books on stage magic like card and coin tricks, and Plover’s books (at least two editions of the Fillory and Further series). As Q reads the first book (Fillory and Further: The World in the Walls), we get a visualization of them onscreen.

Julia and Quentin talk a little (and I’m going to note that she explicitly calls the Fillory books ‘obscure fantasy’, so not actually in the realm of Narnia or LotR) - she gives him a friendly kiss, and then Julia’s boyfriend James comes in and jokes about them having a threeway, which I did not expect to be foreshadowing and yet… Quentin will definitely have a threesome before the end of the season so, I guess it was. Unexpected foreshadowing!

The (dead) Yale interviewer had the clock from the Fillory books (or a replica? I don’t recall from further episodes if this is the real deal or not) in the place he was planning to interview Quentin. Huh, one of the dead interviewer’s eyes looks kinda like a fairy eye. We do find out later from Dean Fogg that the interviewer was a magician, so… hmm. This scene is very suspicious to me in many ways, in retrospect.

The manuscript that Jane gives Quentin is, officially, Fillory and Further; Book Six: the Magicians and it is dated Feb 1952. We learn that Julia is the one who got Quentin into the Fillory books in the first place and that’s why he learned magic tricks. They were both very into the books all through high school, but then Julia met James and she pulled away from them.

Next, it’s Julia and Quentin’s introduction to Brakebills! So, in most (though I suspect Jane tried cutting Q out of the equation at some point early on) of the previous loops, both Quentin and Julia would have gotten into Brakebills at this point, so after this is where we split from the general timeline to the differences in TL40 (for the students! Martin/the Beast is probably doing his own set of experiments each time he gets snapped back into a new timeline; especially different ways of approaching his ability to talk to Penny, I suspect).

When Q arrives, Eliot is, of course, posing in a gorgeous outfit. He was given a card with Quentin’s name and is waiting for him.

So, timeline thoughts: obviously, Fogg decides to set up Eliot and Quentin’s friendship early on, based on previous timeline experiences and whatnot. Given Jane’s worries about Quentin not being prepared enough, it does seem likely that Fogg decided to set up a mentorship-ish situation, since Eliot and Margo appear to get involved anyway in other timelines and since Margo’s a big Fillory fan, too. I’m going to see how Fogg reacts to them in later episodes to see if it confirms or counters my suspicions here.

When Eliot brings Quentin to the exam room, Penny is in the foreground of the shot and Quentin ends up sitting next to him. Julia is more in the middle of the room and (hilariously, from a P23-P40 perspective), I think I see Kady at a table in between Julia and Penny. Quentin sees Julia and they hug. I did not see Alice in the exam room, but there were several tables that had blonde girls at them, so maybe I just missed her.

Julia is told that she failed the test and will be sent home. “I can’t just go to Yale if this place exists” and she deliberately scratches herself before the memory spell is placed on her. Meanwhile, Q is given a deck of cards and told to do magic. He fumbles for a while, Dean Fogg puts some heavy pressure on him, and Q’s magic bursts out and then he collapses.

Q has a dream of talking to Jane in Fillory. Dream!Jane (real!Jane using a spell of some kind, I assume) name-drops the Beast and tells Q to “get off the garden path”. She wants him to try something new, because she knows that the previous tries have all failed spectacularly. He needs to do something different this time.

Q wakes up at Brakebills and Julia wakes up in her apartment in NYC, remembering everything and researching right away. Q talks to Dean Fogg. We learn that Brakebills is a three-year graduate-level program. So. Dean Fogg here is… hmm. He encourages Q to give up his meds. In the earlier scene, he deliberately preyed on Q’s fears (which he would know well from 39 previous timelines of experience) in order to provoke him into displaying a forceful burst of magic. We know that Jane is particularly worried about how much Q, specifically, needs to learn. Adding that together, and it does feel very deliberate that Fogg leads Q to believe that magic — that this school — will eliminate the need for his meds & etc., when we know from future episodes that this is very much not something that magic actually “fixes”. But he’s setting up Brakebills as the place that makes everything better because he wants Q to believe it. It’s also possible that he’s discouraging Q’s meds to create a certain level of emotional pain in Q to power his magic? Wow. That’s a dark thought.

Q and Penny are roommates. Q notices his F&F Book 6 is missing and is accusatory towards Penny, but before it can go further, Eliot comes to introduce Quentin to Margo. He’s told her that Q is cute and her opinion is “not that cute” but she’s friendly to him. We learn that first years stay in the dorms, and then once you know your ‘talent’, you get put into a house. The ones that Eliot lists out are: Physical Kids (where he and Margo are), Illusions, Healing, Nature, Knowledge (where Julia would have gone), Psychics. We also learn that there are only four students currently remaining of the third-year class, sixteen of them having disappeared along the way.

So, after all that, we go to Q’s first class and we see Alice for the first time (at least, that I could spot). She gets singled out to do a demonstration for the class and turns a glass ball into a glass horse. Also in this class, Kady meets Penny. They have an instant sexual connection and hook up right away. This is a definite deviation from timeline-23, at least, and if Kady only got into Brakebills because Julia was kept out, then that could potentially make Kady an overall wildcard. We know that the Great Cock in S3 knows about her, but I wonder if she was on anyone’s radar before timeline-40 happened. I’ll keep an eye out!

When Q finds out a little bit more about Alice from Margo and Eliot, he’s intrigued because he was very impressed by her spellwork. Margo and Eliot do not seem particularly interested in Alice one way or the other - when Alice leaves after Margo’s (debatably sincere) invite, they basically roll their eyes and shrug. Q tries to talk to Alice again later and she is definitely not interested in making friends.

Some time has passed, because James has sent Q several emails that he hasn’t answered. Julia hasn’t been eating or acting like herself, so James asks Q to come to her birthday party. Margo and Eliot overhear and immediately invite themselves along, because they have 100% adopted Q into their friendship already like damn. I’m kinda stunned over exactly how quickly Eliot and Margo decided that Quentin is One of Us. Eliot takes one look and is basically like ‘you’re cute, we’re keeping you’ and Margo goes with it in a way that she absolutely does not do with “Mike” later on. Eliot and Margo are the two people who are welcoming and encouraging to Q basically from day one and it just really stands out even more in a rewatch. Like Q has to go through some traumatizing shit with Alice, Penny, and Kady to start to develop any kind of bond, but with Eliot and Margo, he basically just has to show up and... be himself. And - this is jumping forward a bit but - they both mention later on that they genuinely like Q for his personality and his interests. Margo & El are stealth nerds and Eliot finds nerds charming in general, so they both just... like Q for who he is. It’s just so sweet and very adorable to see it already present in the first episode. They just like him. For the person that he is.

We meet future reoccurring hedge witch Pete at the party, briefly, as Julia goes ‘ugh no’ at first sight. Julia talks to Q in private and reveals that she remembers about Brakebills. The conversation goes badly, Q is not willing to help her with magic stuff, and he leaves with Ellot and Margo. Pete is a creep and scares Julia until she magics her way out of the trap and he invites her to join a non-Brakebills method of learning magic.

The next dream Q has about Jane Chatwin appears to take place at Rupert Chatwin’s grave (or just a monument to him? But I’m guessing grave). She warns him again not to just stick to the “garden path”. She shows him the symbol that he saw in Alice’s book and burns it into his hand, giving him a new reason to seek out Alice. Alice tells Q to meet her that night to do a summoning to contact the other side. Penny is drawn to go help Alice and Q, and Kady volunteers to join him. They do the spell and after they all leave the room, a smiley face is drawn on the mirror, ominously.

The Beast freezes everyone’s actions except their eyes, enters through the mirror. He kills a professor, is attacked by the Dean, defeats him but doesn’t kill him, and then spots Quentin. He calls Quentin out by name and starts to reach towards him and we cut to credits. That’s the scene that really made me go “woah, shit, this show commits” in my first watch-through. Specifically, it was the smiley-face that the Beast makes during that scene. I was like “did I just watch that happen?”, which a thought I have now had many many times over the course of future episodes as well. Sometimes for good and sometimes for bad, I suppose.

Magic: 1. Location portal (Dean Fogg travels through) 2. Portal to Fillory (described in F&F: the World in the Walls) 3. Clock in tree (spotted by Jane; placed by “the watcherwoman”) 4. Julia and Quentin getting into Brakebills (bushes vs elevator) and traveling to upstate New York 5. Magic exam test 6. (attempted) memory spell on Julia 7. Quentin makes the cards fly around the room after his exam and then builds them into a card castle before collapsing 8. Jane talks to Q in his dreams 9. The globes in Dean Fogg’s office sense magic, though they aren’t always right 10. Illusion work is used to keep friends and families of magic students from finding out they attend Brakebills 11. Lots of random practice magic from the students as Eliot and Margo give Q a tour 12. Kady floats during sex and make other things float too (including Penny) 13. Julia makes sparks happen at her birthday party 14. Pete uses magic to tie Julia up and scare her into showing her magic Julia breaks out of Pete’s trap 15. Q has another dream of Fillory and Jane Chatwin 16. Summoning spell with Q, Alice, Penny, and Kady 17. time freeze by the Beast, travels via mirror, magically kills a professor, takes Dean Fogg’s eyes

Relationships: Dean Fogg & Jane Chatwin: firm allies Quentin & Julia: best friends -> becoming estranged friends Julia & James: established relationship Quentin & James: friends -> becoming estranged friends Quentin & Eliot: early friendship/crush Quentin & Penny: bad first impression on both sides Eliot & Margo: best friends Margo & Quentin: early friendship Quentin->Alice: admires her talent Alice->Quentin: hostile -> becoming temporary allies Penny & Kady: immediate sexual/romantic relationship Margo & Alice: mutually unimpressed Eliot & Alice: mutually unimpressed Quentin->Kady: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Kady->Alice & Quentin: “losers" Alice->Kady & Penny: temporary allies Penny->Alice: admires her talent Jane&Fogg->Quentin&co: manipulative mentorship Pete->Julia: impressed with her talent Julia->Pete: creeped out

Obviously a certain amount of subjectivity in this but I call ‘em like I see ‘em.

Physical contact: Jane places the magic watch in Dean Fogg’s coat pocket and then smooths his clothes out afterwards. Julia sits in her boyfriend’s lap at the party. Julia touches Q’s leg, takes his book out of his hands, snuggles up to him, and kisses him on the corner of his mouth. James jumps on top of Q and Julia in Q’s bed when he’s joking about the threeway. Other people join in. Julia and Q press up against each as they walk to Q’s Yale interview, and she touches him on the back and then brushes his hair out of his eyes. Julia and Q sit pressed up together after finding the dead body of the interviewer and she’s somewhat loosely hugging him from behind. Eliot escorts Q into the exam room with a touch on the shoulder and back. Julia and Q hug in the exam room after the test. Margo pulls out Q’s tie when they’re introduced. Margo touches Eliot’s arm when talking about the third-year class and they stayed mostly pressed up arm-to-arm for much of the later conversation. Kady and Penny have sex, and then touch casually and flirtatiously in the walking scene afterward. Margo and Eliot hold hands as they run up to talk to Q when he’s on the phone with James. Eliot leads her by the hand at Julia’s birthday party. When leaving, they hug and spin around together. James hugs Q, and then Q hugs Julia. Pete touches Julia’s face when she’s trapped by his spell. dream!Jane grabs Q’s wrist and presses his hand against the summoning symbol. Q touches Alice’s shoulder when he’s trying to tell her about the symbol burned into his hand. Alice holds his wrist to look at the symbol and then pulls him along by the wrist so they can talk more privately. Penny takes Kady by the hand when they leave. Penny and Kady are playing around/holding hands in class when the Beast arrives. The Beast pulls out Dean Fogg’s eyes and bites him? headbutts him? so that he falls. Bites him, I think. WTF, Martin?

Character Notes: Dean Fogg: mint green shoes Jane Chatwin: Martin was her twin; Rupert was her older brother. She was ‘the family skeptic’. Described by Fogg as a ‘scout; freelance, sort of’. Quentin Coldwater: Checked himself into Midtown Mental Health because he “couldn’t concentrate, eat, or get out of bed” and the “feeling of not belonging anywhere was overwhelming” and being “the most useless person who ever lived”. He was planning on selling his Fillory first editions on Ebay. His father lives in Jersey. Martin Chatwin: “gloomy nature” (as claimed by Plover) Rupert Chatwin: wounded in “the war” (WWII) Charlie Quinn: Died five years ago at Brakebills, so 2010 Julia Wicker: Was going to go to Yale for a business degree.

Students: “Missing 3rd year class” students: there are only four students in the current third year class, with sixteen having gone missing. I’m not certain exactly how many we end up accounting for over the course of the season (at least Victoria and Josh but there might be more), so I will keep track of that, too. But, for now, we have the nameless four remaining. Known 1st year students: Q, Alice, Penny, Kady. Dean Fogg mentions “I’ve got another twenty-four of you today”, which sets the class size at 25 minimum (if Q is the first new student he talked to) Known 2nd year students: Margo, Eliot

Timeline Notes: Oct. 2015: Dean Fogg meets with Jane Chatwin to discuss this current time loop. “Not Tuesday”: Quentin is checking himself out of Midtown Mental Health and mentions he has a Yale grad school interview on “Tuesday”. Tuesday: Julia goes with Quentin to his Yale interview, but the interviewer is dead. Jane is posing as an EMT and gives Quentin the unpublished Fillory and Further sixth book. Quentin starts some new meds. Tuesday Night: Quentin and Julia are pulled into Brakebills for their exam (and it is day in Brakebills) Wednesday: Q is at Brakebills; Julia is back in NYC. Q gives his new meds up to Dean Fogg. ~undisclosed amount of time passes~ Julia’s birthday: Q, Eliot, and Margo attend ~undisclosed amount of time passes~

Ways the Loop-aware Messed With Our Kids: 1. Julia was kept out of Brakebills 2. Eliot was sent out to bring Q in to take his test 3. Q and Penny are roommates in the dorms 4. Jane burns Q’s hand to encourage him to seek out Alice 5. Jane tells Q that Brakebills isn’t the point and he has a greater destiny

#TMRevisited #The Magicians #tmwk1 #long post #text post #keeping track of things

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rwbyconversations · 6 years

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The four RWBY girls alongside Michael Jones and Vic Mignonga had a panel on July 14th at Florida Supercon.

Panel finally starts after five minutes and a tangent about Titanic. Michael does a runway walk while people queue up for questions, Vic beatboxes for him.

Would the RWBY girls say that their friendship is as close as RWBY’s friendship? A: Basically, yes. Lindsay notes that she’s more like Weiss when talking with Kara and Kara is more like Ruby in that Lindsay constantly dunks on Kara. Arryn notes that Blake never talks to Ruby, so she’s got that over Blake.

Of all the characters in RWBY, which would you like to see development for? Also can I have a hug? A: Hugs are promised at the booth after the panel. Arryn: “I will touch you so hard.. in the most appropriate way possible”. As for the question, Lindsay would like to see more of Neo. Kara says Mama Schnee. Arryn says Zwei. Barbara says that she’d love to see Ruby get some development. “Out of all the main cast, we have yet to learn more about her.” Vic goes with Oscar, partly for the selfish reason of getting to hang out with Arron Dismuke (Oscar’s voice actor). “He’s my little baby brother who’s now 7′4, and he went from ‘brother!’ to ‘BROTHER.’” Michael chooses Neptune.

How is everyone today? A: Great! Q: In between all the voice acting stuff, do you find the personal time to do what you want? A: Lindsay: “I mean, we had a kid, so... yeah.” Barbara notes that recording for RWBY and other RT Animation shows is just something that takes an hour a week. Arryn notes that since acting is her full-time job, she doesn’t exactly like having downtime. “Please give me a job!” Vic stabs the viewer in the heart by saying “I’m doing what I want right now.”

Does your voice ever get tired out, especially among the people who shift from Achievement Hunter to RWBY? A: Lindsay notes the big difference in going from AH to RWBY in that “Achievement Hunter is... Achievement Hunter and RWBY is family friendly!” She goes on to say that the most exhausting thing is ‘efforts’ or battle sounds. Ruby’s voice is difficult when it comes to crying and yelling. Michael admits he takes horrible care of his voice- other VAs have special teas and honeys to calm their throats down, but when Michael’s not doing VA work he’s usually screaming. Sun is based on Michael’s normal voice and as a consequence, he’s pretty hard to do if Michael is just out of a Let’s Play. Vic notes you can damage your voice from over-usage and that it’s important to know when to stop.

Would you rather ship Jaune with Pyrrha, Weiss (Kara raises her hand) or Ruby? A: Lindsay: “Let’s remove that third one from the equation. Ruby’s in a relationship with herself right now.” Barb: “I would like to see some Jaune/Sun.” Arryn: “Sun’s in love with Blake.” Michael jokingly laments that “volume after volume,” Sun’s been doing his best for Blake. Arryn more seriously says that “Jaune needs to focus on himself. He had his chance with a girl and he screwed it up.” Arryn then notes that Blake also needs to do some introspection.

If RWBY fought Sun and Qrow, who’d come out on top? A: Lindsay isn’t sure Qrow would go all out against Ruby, even if it was a training match. Arryn and Lindsay both consciously snub Yang. (Lindsay: “Would Qrow really fight his lovely niece?” Arryn: “The one he’s so clearly obsessed with? I’m sorry, who are you again Yang?”) They pretty much all agree that Qrow’s Semblance would sabotage Team Drunken Monkey. Michael says Sun would hang back and let Qrow figure it out.

Vic, how did you come up with Qrow’s voice? The girls do Qrow impressions of varying quality. Vic shares a story of how he got into RWBY; at a panel in Perth back in 2014, Lindsay and Michael shared some footage of RWBY that got Vic hooked. As far as the voice, they sent him some test images of Qrow and some lines that he recorded in LA and sent to them. He did a few different voices, they picked one and the rest is history. Most of the rest of the group used something close to their natural voice. Barbara initially had a higher pitch for Yang but she toned it down. Arryn uses the same voice but changes her speech pattern. Lindsay based Ruby’s squeak on her own self-deprecating jokes about being the chubby kid. Ruby’s Volume 1 voice was because they weren’t sure how innocent Ruby was supposed to be. Michael says Sun’s voice nowadays is based on a surfer bro without the accent. There’s another bit of teasing for the Black Sun fans when Michael laments that Blake keeps shooting Sun down (”He’s trying though!”) and Arryn bemoans how oblivious Blake is. Barbara tries to fit in a Bumblebee joke about her loving Yang.

Q: Did Ruby have a goth phase? Lindsay notes that Ruby is now sixteen as of Volume 5 (Arryn wonders if this means that Blake’s finally eighteen). Lindsay jokes that Ruby likes going to Fall Out Boy concerts. Arryn once had black hair with red tips like Ruby.

What weapons would the show be able to come up besides what’s already been seen? A: Arryn: “Well the show isn’t capable of ideas.” The question was meant to be “What kind of weapons would you come up with for a new character?” Barbara says a “gun-gun,” a gun that shoots guns. Vic: “I like to keep it simple. What I do is I take a bottle, and I break it. And then I cut you.” Arryn would love to see some kind of fan weapon. Kara: “What about a frisbee?” Michael likes the idea of a game controller that turns into a whip. The fan also has a statement that Blake isn’t the only black cat he knows that’s completely oblivious to love (Adrian from Miraculous Ladybug)

What does RWBY mean to you? Barb: “It means Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang.” Vic: “Can we change it to QRWBY?” Arryn talks about how much RWBY changed her life and let her find her dream job. Kara: “It’s been amazing, I have no words.”

A Ruby cosplayer made bracelets for RWY. Arryn got hers on-stage. Q: Any advice for anyone who wants to get into voice acting? A: Lindsay says getting into VA work is a little bit of luck, but it comes down to who you know and how you network with people. Fan dubs are a great jumping off point since directors keep up with that. Yuri Lowenthal (Merucry Black) and his wife Tara Platt (Kali) have a three-part series on Youtube that covers how to make a great demo reel as a voice actor. Vic says to take any chance you can to develop your skills. Most of the actors he knows didn’t start as voice actors, they just performed wherever they could. Basically, never say no to any acting gig, get into community theater and go to acting school. “One thing you need more than talent, is a thick skin.”

If you guys could switch characters with someone here who would it be? A: Michael: “I’M YANG!” Lindsay and Weiss would swap. Arryn would be Sun or Yang. Barb would do Qrow. Vic in his Qrow voice: “I’m Weiss. I drink a lot.” Lindsay: Like mother like daughter! Vic at the end of the question: “I’d like to play Winter so I can lose to myself in a fight!”

How do you guys get into character? Arryn: “Don’t really have to do anything any more.” Kara watches the most recent episodes to get into Weiss’s mindset. She also records in heels since it helps her posture, unless it’s a fight scene. For Chibi/Volume 1-3 Yang, Barbara would cause chaos and build her energy up, but for Volume 4/5, she’d wear a big hoodie like “emo yang.” Lindsay finds a theme song for her characters. For Ruby she uses anime OPs like Lucky Star (Beacon) or Red Like Roses Part 2 (Volume 4-5 Ruby). Michael runs in circles to build up energy for Sun, if he plays Max from Camp Camp he starts swearing up a storm. When he’s driving in he’ll shout along with songs on the radio.

Michael, favorite character that’s not Sun? Winter.

Who can do the best robot dance? Barbara.

Who do you ship in RWBY? (DAMNIT WE NEARLY MADE IT TO THE END WITHOUT THIS FUCKING QUESTION GAAAAAA) Barb- Bumblebee. Kara- White Knight. Lindsay- Nuts and Dolts. Vic- the USS Enterprise.

Barbara, how was it to provide your voice for Blazblue? She rapid-fire says “I nearly lost my voice from all the power up sounds.”

Barbara, how can fans support Rooster Teeth beyond just buying First? A: Watch the shows, First is the absolute best way to support them.

Do you believe in destiny? Yes. Favorite OST song? Lindsay- Red Like Roses Part 2. Arryn and Michael- This Will Be The Day. Barb- Gold and Cold.

Barbara, is Yang gay? Barb: “I don’t know, I kinda hope so though.”

Where are Yang’s puns? A: Watch Chibi.

Arryn, when is Blake gonna stop being so melodramatic? “I’ve already ended it. Just wait!”

#rwby #florida supercon #lindsay jones #kara eberle #arryn zech #barbara dunkelman #michael jones #vic mignogna #rwby panel #ruby rose #weiss schnee #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #qrow branwen #sun wukong

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