#they refuse to listen to any criticism at all and will respond by crying me into submission

[like-butterflies-and-glitter]

you can never tell your parents that they are not helping by constantly texting or calling you for updates. and if you don't get back to your texts they will call. and if you do tell them they will be mad and tell you that fine they will not contact you, and that you can contact them whenever you wish to talk or ask for something. and they will do it crying, refusing to listen to how them micromanaging and keeping you constantly on the phone is not helping the task at hand if not jeopardising it and giving you more anxiety, which there is plenty of already.

[itsclydebitches]

RWBY Recaps: Volume 8 “Creation”

Happy Saturday, everyone! Oh man, oh man, oh man. I think I'll need to steer clear of the general RWBY tags this week, simply because I know the sort of responses I'll see to this episode. From smug celebration at Ironwood's downfall, to bad takes about what makes us human, this episode is a petri dish of sensitive material handled insensitively.

Let’s unpack it, shall we? 

We open on an action that feels like a summery of the last three volumes: a grimm attacks an airship from the front, no doubt killing its pilot, while the other grimm conveniently ignore our heroes, no masking in sight. The group looks a little sad at the destruction around them, but ultimately ignore it because they have bigger, heroic things to do. I could write a whole, additional essay on how the huntsmen code — to protect the people — has been warped and abandoned by our protagonists in their effort to do what they think is right. It's a tale that might have been compelling if only RT knew they were writing it.

We get a shot of Atlas drones unloading the bomb before one is taken out, presumably by Qrow and Robyn. Segueing to Ironwood and the Ace Ops, they're waiting for Penny to arrive, the former carrying a massive gun presumably capable of capturing her. Despite the horror we saw on their faces last episode at the realization that Ironwood would kill Marrow for speaking up, it seems that now the Ace Ops are entirely in agreement with these measures. A week ago the implication was that they fell back in line out of fear, but now Harriet talks passionately about "putting down" the group if they were stupid enough to accompany Penny. "The General gave his terms." Vine sighs at this, but doesn't actively disagree. He's just "retracing the steps that led us here."

So, congratulations on introducing four new characters, not bothering to develop any of them, killing one off while ignoring Qrow's hand in that, and having the other three become all, "Yeah! Mass murder is a perfect solution!" off screen. Marrow is the only one with something resembling development and, as covered in these recaps, that's been pretty badly executed too.

Ironwood sends them to deal with Robyn and Qrow after Winter reappears to "assist" him. That gets quotation marks because most viewers at this point have realized that she's who our two birbs spotted in the elevator. Winter isn't on Ironwood's side anymore, she's just skillfully clearing the field for the final attack. Indeed, we get a moment where she hesitantly brings up the bomb and Ironwood responds that he hopes she's not going to try and talk him out of it. No. Winter doesn't think that's possible. This was her final attempt at peace.

One of the reasons why I think I'll stick to my own blog for a while is because the fandom has a tendency to paint broad personality traits as evil when applied to some characters, yet simultaneously heroic when applied to others, when really it's about how that those traits are used. What I mean is, I've seen a lot of Ironwood critical posts that emphasize how stubborn he is. He thinks he's right and he won't back down. He wont listen to others. He's going through with this plan and if anyone tries to stop him? That's their mistake. Totally evil, right? Except, this is the exact same behavior Ruby displays, particularly in Volumes 6 and 7. She was stubborn about stealing from Argus and continuing the fight to the point where it endangered her and her teammates, to say nothing of the rest of the city. She refused to listen to Qrow, or Ironwood, or the Ace Ops, loudly announcing that she was right about, well, everything. If they didn't agree with her, the options were to leave the group entirely, or fight her. The actual difference here is that the writers have taken Ironwood to an extreme, one that's incredibly easy to understand as bad because it is bad: bombing Mantle has no defense. Ruby pulls the exact same nonsense, it's just not to that same extreme and her actions are followed by scenes that are meant to make us forgive her: a sad look because she didn't mean to get a city attacked by a leviathan grimm, a cry on the staircase because she didn't mean to risk the lives of an entire kingdom... even though she did. Ironwood is the bad guy because he's been written to take specific, OOC actions like shooting unarmed kids. He's not the bad guy because when other characters go, "Don't do this" his response is, "I have to." Because that's been Ruby's motto ever since she "had" to use the Lamp to rip Ozpin’s life story away. RWBY introduced those extreme actions of shooting the youngest in the group (for no reason) and threatening to bomb a city (for no reason) or shooting a councilman (for no reason) because when you remove those you've got a man who looks exactly like our hero. Ironwood's arc has been peppered with these confusing, unpersuasive actions because if you just keep the story as him stubbornly keeping to a plan he thinks will save the world, you're left with the reminder that all Ruby has done lately is stubbornly keep to plans she thinks will save the world. This moment with Winter just highlights how ill thought out Ironwood's descent has been because he does everything Ruby does... with a few, tacked on, “and randomly shoots people!” moments to ensure we understand that he’s definitely evil. No comparison to our heroes here, folks! 

Ironwood is a bad guy now. That’s certain, but he was made that way so the story never had to grapple with the question of what that means for Ruby if we really start condemning things like lying, secrets, stubbornness, or endangering others for the greater good. Well then damn, if we strip away the hypocrisy then she might not be a good person after all. Or the people she’s simplistically labeled as bad might not be the devils Ruby claims they are. 

But that’s a level of nuance RWBY would rather pretend doesn’t exist. 

All of which is highlighted by Ironwood’s reaction to "Penny." He sighs and sags over the gun, immediately putting it aside. With his hand on her shoulder, Ironwood tells her she's "done the right thing." Precisely the same way Ruby would lower Crescent Rose and give someone a smile when they decided to fall in line with her.

Which, of course, is the moment when Emerald reveals herself, dispelling the Penny illusion and revealing Team JNPR The Second behind her. She gives a quip about it feeling "weird" to do the right thing before disappearing.

From there the action picks up fast. I really enjoyed this battle simply from a choreography and energy standpoint. It gets the blood pumping, Ironwood's hand-to-hand is spectacular — especially that moment against Ren — and the group actually displays teamwork for the first time in what feels like forever, all of them needed to land a hit on Ironwood. As always, out of the context of the rest of the show it feels and looks great. My primary issue is that we get this fantastic fight against Ironwood. Not Salem, not Cinder, not Watts (like last volume when Ironwood was still a hero), not even Emerald as a means of transitioning from murderous villain to the group's best bud. No, what's arguably the best action sequence in the volume thus far goes to beating up the guy they betrayed from the start. There's no catharsis for me here, only frustration as we watch Ironwood stand in shock as Winter powers up Nora — who's fine now, I guess — and she slams her hammer into his face. 

It never should have come to this and when a good character is done so dirty, their downfall doesn't evoke the emotions the writers are looking for. Watching Ironwood fall doesn't generate feelings of victory, or even tragedy at a course of events others were powerless to stop. It's just frustration at watching years worth of bad writing, sprinkled with fantastic ideas that never go anywhere.

Oscar gets a few hits in, Ironwood snatches his cane, and just as he's about to throw a punch, Winter arrives with the most dramatic sword slash I've ever seen.

Ironwood's aura breaks and he falls, unconscious. We cut to an image of a droid's head separated from its body, one of Robyn's arrows through its skull. That doesn't have meaning or anything.

I suppose I should be grateful they didn't rip Ironwood's arm away during the fight, or outright kill him, though I'm still expecting him to die before the end of the volume.

Hmm. Wouldn't that be something? If after Salem's arrival, freezing cold, a Hound attack, grimm soup, a giant whale, a massive army, and a hack ending in self-destruction, the one character who actually dies is Ironwood. 

It's looking more and more likely.

Honestly, beyond all the obvious, what's so frustrating about this fight is that characters are only now using their impressive abilities to their fullest. Emerald creates an entire fantasy of what's happening and then straight up disappears, but she only does a half-assed version of that when fighting against Penny. (And really, she put more effort into helping the heroes she just joined over Cinder, the woman she's been obsessed with since the start?) Marrow refuses to use "Stay" against a group they wanted to peacefully arrest because that's just too horrible an act, I guess, but he'll do it on his own teammates the second Qrow and Robyn don’t want to fight.  

This is what I mean when I say the rules of the world bend to assist the protagonists in absurd ways. It's not nearly as egregious as Amity suddenly being up and running, but the fact that characters become substantially more powerful while fighting for the protagonists than they do against them is still a significant problem.

So Ironwood is down and out. As much as I hated watching that and didn't necessarily want more, am I the only one who felt like it was... a bit lackluster? I mean, the action was great, yes, but relatively short. There was no dialogue, such as another delve into the moral questions that led to this fight in the first place. There certainly wasn’t any hesitance against fighting a former ally. (Again, we’re meant to believe that the Ace Ops won because they just couldn’t bear to fight the group seriously, but every former ally here is capable of wailing on Ironwood without a single pause or pained look?) Ironwood just skillfully blocks for a while, is blindsided by Winter's betrayal, and then falls unconscious. Given that we learn he and Jacques will be evacuated after the rest of the kingdom, it's possible he'll escape somehow and we'll get a fight 2.0, but if not that feels like a rather tame end to the guy forced into the antagonist seat. Plus, what was the point of having Qrow frothing at the mouth to kill him this whole volume? I never wanted that to happen, I'm glad it hasn't, but I'm nevertheless left to ask why we bothered with that eleven episode side plot if we were going to erase it with one sentence from Robyn about Qrow being better than this. If that's all it took, let them work through Qrow's irrational anger while sitting around in a cell.

Winter tells the group to move onto "phase two" which is when we're treated to a flashback. We return to the ending of the last episode, with Ruby realizing that opening the vault is an option. Jaune, all smiles, goes, "We never considered using what's inside!"

This is what I mean about no consequences! This is what I mean about it all being a meaningless circle that ends with undeserved praise for the group! We started this horror show with Ironwood going, "We don't have a plan to protect the people, so I'm going to take what people we do have to safety" and the group going, "We don't have a plan either, but we're going to stop you implementing your plan because it's not perfect, risking a kingdom's worth of lives in the process." Now, the group has used two plans, one of which two characters knew about at the start and another they could have devised with the information they had. Oscar and Ozpin's, "We have an all powerful magical blast in our cane" and the group's "What if we used the Staff for something other than raising Atlas?" are both things that could have come up in the office debate. These were both always on the table! Instead, Ruby grew furious over the mere thought of cutting their losses, betrayed Ironwood again, attacked his people, denounced him to the world, and then two days later goes, "Oh wait! We could do something now that we could have easily done before if we hadn't made a needless enemy!" 

Everyone realizes how much worse they made things, right? Turning against Ironwood, bringing everyone left in Mantle directly under Atlas, sitting around while an army was devoured, drawing it out until Penny was hacked... all of it would have been avoided if the group had thought and discussed things for a few minutes, not jumping straight to violently resisting what Ironwood came up with first. "We never considered..." Ruby says. Yeah, you didn't, except that's not something to smile about. The group made the situation a thousand times worse with their reaction when they could have just magically evacuated the kingdom from the start. “Maybe we could use it to save Penny and get everyone in Atlas and Mantle back to safety." Nothing has changed! They had this ability the whole time! Nothing about the last twelve episodes led them here, they just randomly thought of it after RT had padded the volume with needless drama. Considering that they're heading to Vacuo now, we could have just made this the finale of Volume 7 instead: big fight with Ironwood, revelation, get everyone  evacuated while Salem attacks, leave her behind, then Volume 8 begins in Vacuo with the group knowing Salem is out there looking for them. This entire volume has been pointless. What did they accomplish?

Oscar got kidnapped and beat up, Nora was scarred, Ruby and Yang realized horrible things about Summer, and the whole world is panicking about a witch. Good things are... Ren and Ruby unlocked some semblance stuff? Weiss loves her brother again after he proved himself useful to her? Great work, team.

So this one moment makes everything they've done up to this point useless and, of course, once thought up the plan goes off without a hitch. Note that the summary of this episode says, "It's risky, dangerous, and nearly impossible — but it's the only plan they've got." Nearly impossible? That's a whole lot of talk for a plan that was implemented perfectly.

There is, admittedly, one snag, but one that is likewise made meaningless just seconds later. We'll get to that.

We see Winter call Weiss who also smiles at hearing from her sister. Obviously interactions like the group's with Emerald are the bigger concern, but it's still an issue that no one reacts as they should to people reappearing in their lives. Rather, RWBY continually confuses audience knowledge with character knowledge. We know Winter is on their side now, but Weiss hasn't a clue. Last she saw, she and Winter were agreeing to head down different paths. She has no reason to think her sister isn't loyal to Ironwood, so why isn't the group treating this call with suspicion? What if it's Ironwood trying to mess with them through a presumably safe party? I swear to god, with any consistency in the story this group would be dead ten times over because their decisions are so stupid. Oscar decides to believe in the guy currently beating him to a pulp, the group decides to trust a villain over a flawed ally, and now they see Ironwood’s second calling and are like, “Great, big sister Winter is checking in!” There’s a difference between a hopeful story filled with second chances and characters whose reliance on the narrative bending to assist them makes them come across as insanely naive. 

None of which even touches on characters forgetting that other characters are presumably dead. Ironwood shot Oscar off the edge of Atlas, but doesn't react to learning he was kidnapped, or when he shows up to the fight. Thanks to Marrow's comment, Winter thinks YJOR have perished in the whale, but also has no reaction to them appearing to help with this plan. Absolutely nothing is followed up on.

We then get a flashback within the flashback (fun) of Winter — shock — not arresting Marrow. It's precisely as I assumed, with Marrow angrily asking why she hit him and Winter responding with, “Because you were about to get killed if I didn’t do something!” As I said last recap, I feel like I should let the marginalized groups lead this discussion, but I do want to add that no matter how well intentioned — or strategic, as I mentioned last time — the imagery itself is still harmful. No matter the context, we were still left with white woman Winter putting her knee on black man Marrow's back to arrest him, and it’s an image that everyone in the U.S. should be familiar with the horror of. Far more of a problem than the (presumed) ignorance of this scene is, I think, the choice to make Winter entirely unrepentant. I think some of this discomfort could have been alleviated if RT had written Winter as apologetic, contrite that it came to that and asking Marrow to understand that she only did it as a means of assisting him. Asking his forgiveness. Instead, we get this

So what, the only emotion we have room for is gratitude that Winter beat him up? Yikes.

As a lighter side note, I find the animation here unintentionally hilarious. Winter's assistive device makes her shoulders look too high, making this gesture more, "Woman exaggeratedly pouts about not getting ice cream for dinner" and less, "Woman sternly closes off during a disagreement about saving lives and betraying their general." Gotta find our humor where we can, right?

What's intentional, but far less funny, is the needless animation to show us that, yes, Marrow is peering at Winter calling Weiss. Oh, the shenanigans. 

The elevator opens where Qrow and Robyn spot them. "Speaking of help," Winter says, as if she has any reason to believe Qrow didn't kill Clover. He and Robyn lower their weapons a bit, as if they have any reason to believe Winter and Marrow aren't still loyal to Ironwood. Would it really be so hard to have Winter immediately throw up her hands in the face of their almost-attack, blurting that she's not their enemy and needs their help, please listen? Again, RWBY can't remember which characters know what, let alone what their motivations and reactions should be.

We then enter the third part of the flashback where everyone piles into the Schnee dining room and discusses doing the things they could have done from the start. I'm metaphorically banging my head against that table. In RWBY's favor though, we also get a long shot of Jaune continuing to boost Penny’s aura.

Though it's only one of many issues, just the other day I asked, "Hey, why has Jaune always needed to hold onto the person he's assisting, but now suddenly he can touch Penny once and the boost remains?" It still doesn't explain why he was letting go before/why him needing to boost her continuously didn't put a hard time limit on their plan — not that Mantle's hour limit meant a thing — but at least they're showing more of that here.

Oscar notes that Atlas has enough gravity dust that it won't fall immediately when they use the Relic, but they will have to move fast to ensure no one is underneath. Yeah, like all the civilians you put there. He also cautions that the Staff isn't a "magic wand" that they can just wave to make all their problems go away... even though that's precisely what they're going to do. Ozpin gets some lines that aren't apologies or followed by attacks — hallelujah! — about how the Staff's spirit is a "character" and requires that you be able to precisely explain anything you want him to make. Blueprints, examples, a firm knowledge of how this will be accomplished — all of it is required to actually get what you're after. That's a cool limitation. It's just too bad we didn't know about it episodes ago, forcing our heroes to find ways to meet those requirements. Instead, they already have everything ready to go the moment they learn about it: Penny has her own schematics and Whitley apparently has knowledge of the entire kingdom after sending some ships out. Normally I'd go, "Really?" but I'm still just struck by how much good he's done compared to everyone else in this room. Your show is seriously broken when the side character the writers didn't even want the audience to like until a few episodes ago is more active, mature, and sensible than the heroes.

From there we see the group implementing the plan. They fly up through the hole Oscar left, straight to the vault. Penny opens it without any trouble and Ruby uses her speed to grab the Relic and stop time, halting her self-termination. I do like that combination of skill and their knowledge of how this magic works. That felt like a smart move. What's interesting though is that the Relic appears to stop time in the entire kingdom. We see people in Mantle and Atlas slowing to a halt too. I assume no one remembers that happening after time restarts, otherwise people would be freaked out by suddenly being frozen in place.

Wouldn't that have been cool though? The group often takes a while to use the Relics, either deciding what they need, or watching Jinn's information, so what if you had a population that blinks and suddenly, from their perspective, half an hour has passed? How long might Ozpin have sat on his knees after Jinn told him he wasn't able to defeat Salem? How long was that space frozen? We could have had a world built around rumors and fairy tales. Not the random stories Ozpin brings up to make a point and that we never hear about again, but tiny details that foreshadow these revelations. A Beacon where the kids tell each other spooky stories of people suddenly losing time, once a whole day. The wives, sisters, daughters, and nieces who disappear, or wake up one day with horrifying, unnatural powers. We see magic influence the world around it, but we've seen very little of the world reacting to that influence. The one time I can think of is Blake reading a book about "a man with two souls," the fiction clearly inspired by knowledge of Ozpin. And indeed, it felt great to recognize that as a significant detail and then be proven right years later as the lore was revealed. We could have gotten so much more of that if RWBY was better planned out.

I'm getting off track though. As time stops we see a series of images: Ironwood being led to a cell with Jacques, Penny succumbing to her hack, Team JNPR The Second preparing to contact the kingdom about what's going on. Then everyone is distracted by the giant, blue, buff Ambrosius who comes out of the Staff.

...there's a lot of innuendo in that last statement lol. At least RWBY is committed to the crazy design they chose? I was never particularly comfortable with the image of characters gaping up at a giant, naked woman in chains, so it's nice to balance that a bit with an equally giant, naked dude in chains.

From here things get confusing. In all honesty, I'm not sure if this is another moment where RWBY is trying to pass off a retcon as the group being brilliant, or if I, as an individual, simply didn't follow the logic. I won't bother to rehash the slow, meandering way that Ruby reveals their plan — that certainly didn't help with the clarity. Not in an episode where we didn’t even know these rules ahead of time — but it boils down to this:

The moment they have Ambrosius create something new Atlas will start to fall. Two of his creations can't exist at the same time.

He needs clear instructions about what he's making in order to create it.

The group has brought him Penny's schematics so that he understands how she's built.

They want, specifically, "a new version of her... using her exact robot parts."  

They can't just create an exact duplicate of Penny because that would carry the virus with it.

They can't create an exact duplicate without the virus because that Penny would cease to exist as soon as they used Ambrosius to make an evacuation plan instead.

So they essentially want Ambrosius to create a new Penny by removing all the robot parts from the Penny that currently exists, carrying the virus with them, and leaving only the human parts of Penny behind: her aura/soul. Then, the purely robot version is destroyed when Ambrosius creates something new.

Except... this new Penny, this human Penny, still needed a human body. That's what Ambrosius created and that's the snag I don't understand. They want a version of Penny that's just her aura, just her soul, but that soul still needs something to be housed in. Ambrosius himself notes that. At first I thought the group would just have some wisp-like version of Penny they'd have to find a new body for — perhaps leading to a new one for Ozpin too — but she's just... given a human body when he takes the technology away, something she absolutely didn't have before. That is Ambrosius' creation. That is what should have disappeared along with the removed parts of Penny, leaving only her soul — what Ambrosius didn't touch — behind. Instead, the plot oh so conveniently has Penny get a new body for free and it's untouched as they move onto the next task.

Ruby drops a casual line about Ambrosius not being able to kill, or destroy, or something, which I think is meant to be the justification here. The rule (which, again, we JUST learned) about not killing anyone supersedes the rule of two creations not allowed to exist, allowing Penny to stick around. But even if that’s true, it’s a load of bull. What, does the magic think no one in an entire city might die if the floating mechanism is removed and it plummets to the ground? Ambrosius didn’t say, “Sorry, can’t stop floating Atlas because thousands of people are still here and they’ll die if I create something new,” but we’re supposed to believe the group skated by on, “Sorry, can’t destroy the last creation like everything else because there’s a single person still using that body and she’ll die if I create something new”? 

Seriously, did I miss something? Or is this another, "Amity is ready because the group needs it" situation? The rule of creations ceasing to exist is bent because the group needs to have their friend around. Ambrosius is certainly enthusiastically complimentary, saying how "smart" the group is and that they've "done their homework," but I'm not so sure. It feels like a moment where the show is (once again) insistent that the group is far more talented and brilliant than their actions actually imply. It's only the rules of the world twisting and turning that allows for their success. To say nothing of how the episode dropped all these rules on the viewer in a ten minute info dump, ensuring we didn’t have any time to think about them before the deed was done. 

It doesn't add up for me and honestly, even putting that aside? I hate this. I absolutely despise it. Look, if it turns out this really does make sense then props to the group for coming up with that plan. Our snag aside, the rest is a legitimately well thought out wish. I don't have a problem with the execution so much as the message. I've been saying since Volume 7 that RWBY has done Penny a disservice in terms of her "real girl" narrative. Whereas before we had a firm message that you don't need "squishy guts" to be human, to be real, Volume 8 continued to carry us further and further into the idea that it is necessary. That Penny's body is entirely inhuman, something to hate, but at least her soul is human and good. That's what the virus arc taught us: your terrible, technological body might be betraying you, but hold onto the parts of you that are really human. I hated that too, but I never thought RWBY would go this far. They made Penny fully human and went, “THIS is the version that always should have existed.”

And this isn't just me reading into the implications. It's right there in the text. Blake says that they're looking for “Penny, the girl who’s always been there underneath." Meaning, underneath the metal. The girl exists trapped in the robot body. Yang holds up her arm and says that the metal is only "extra," it's not really who you are. 

That gets into two perspectives on disability that RWBY just doesn't have the nuance for: what's an integral and celebratory part of one person's existence can be seen as something separate and discomforting to another. Though there are many people with disabilities who would happily cure themselves with a magic Staff if given the chance, there are just as many who say no, this is a part of my identity. I don't want to change, I just want the world to accommodate my existence. However, RWBY takes a hard stance here, saying that any metal in your body is intrinsically bad. We didn’t use to have this take, but now the show has embraced it. Blake says the real Penny is trapped in there. Yang's words implies that she'd get rid of this "extra" bit of her if possible. Mercury with his metal legs is the enemy. Ironwood with half his metal body is the enemy. Whereas once difference was truly accepted, now it's shunned and fixed whenever possible. Those who can't be fixed, like Yang, must simply deal with the lot they've been dealt, reassuring themselves that the metal isn't really them. But Penny? Penny they can fix.

So they do and the very first thing Penny does is hug Ruby, exclaiming, “Do hugs always make you feel this warm inside? Wow. More!” and proceeds to hug all the others. 

What's the underlying message there? Penny didn't understand hugs before this moment. She never experienced the "warmth" of them while an android, despite the fact that here warmth is entirely metaphorical and has nothing to do with a literally cold body. RWBY really went and said that the "real girl” android was never actually real at all — not as real as she could be — because it's only when she's given "squishy guts" that she understands the true happiness of a hug.

Wow.

I mean seriously, wow. 

Never-mind that, you know, we've seen that happiness and warmth since she was first introduced.

RWBY is really rewriting all the core themes introduced in Volumes 1-3 and it sucks. The show is absolutely the worse for it.

To say nothing of all the other disservices to Penny's character here. There's all this buildup about whether she'll still be the same Penny once the wish is complete, but of course she is. We wouldn't want to have Penny struggle when she becomes something other than what she's always been, would we? After all, it took Yang an entire volume to work through the shock of a metal arm, but taking away a metal body for a human one is in no way traumatic. Having a normal, human body is intrinsically a good thing! Of course Penny accepts it with nothing but smiles. Becoming human is celebratory, but becoming more machine is a horror.

She gets to watch her body self-destruct, glitching out and collapsing in front of her. But again, nothing to unpack there that can't be covered with a hand over her mouth.

There's no discussion of whether Penny still has the Maiden powers, or whether a wish like that would mess with the transfer in any way. How did the group know this action wouldn't register as a clear-cut death, forcing the power out of her and into someone new? Obviously they couldn’t know, but no one even thought to bring it up? 

And the entire time they're formulating their evacuation plan, there's no talk of whether these portals will appear before everyone currently alive in the kingdom. I mean, if they do then Ironwood and Jacques can just waltz through and escape into Vacuo. If they don’t, then Maria and Pietro don't necessarily have a way out. We still don't know if they're stuck floating in Amity, or if Amity crashed, or if they made their way back to Mantle or Atlas. More importantly, the characters don't know. I have no problem with RWBY keeping that a surprise until the finale, but I absolutely take issue with Pietro's daughter walking through a portal, seemingly not to care whether her father is going to make it out too.

It's been the same with Qrow and his nieces' relationships. The show is good at insisting that these families love each other because they hug and smile while on screen together, but when shit is actually going down, none of them care about pesky things like disappearances, arrests, or “The last time I saw you, you were with an old woman on a damaged station after a villain attack, potentially stranded in deadly cold if life support failed.” 

So yeah, this entire arc with Penny has been a disaster. From throwing away her framing subplot, to giving her a virus that did absolutely nothing, to giving her the Maiden powers which she's also done nothing with, to erasing her android status for a “She's really human now” message, Penny has been done dirty by the show these last two volumes. Not nearly to the extent Ironwood has, but still. At this point I wish they'd just kept her dead dead. Why do I want her back when that resurrection produces no reaction, her conflicts lead nowhere, and one of the core things that made Penny Penny has now been magically erased?

I've been saying for weeks that killing Penny off and keeping Penny around each had serious downsides attached, yet I never expected RWBY to do BOTH.

Also, I'm warding off any, "But Pinocchio was made into a real boy too" defenses. RWBY is not Pinocchio. Penny is not Pinocchio. I thought the allusion was going to be the Pinocchio inspired girl heading into the whale, not the show forcing the exact plotline  —  down to a blue, magical creature — onto a character whose entire journey has been about accepting herself as an android. Congratulations, RT. You just obliterated years of work.

Again, if you'd like an example of how to do this far better:

As Penny's character falls apart, Atlas shakes, alerting Jaune and the other that a new wish has been granted. Jaune pecks at the screen and realizes "That did, uh, something…?” but doesn’t realize that there's a giant, red "LIVE" up in the corner.

Jaune tries to warn the entire kingdom about their plan, but what he actually says is

“Atlas is falling, but — !”

And then the communications cut out. 

Watts, perhaps?

Our heroes are really good at saying things that make large populaces panic, huh? This is the one (1) snag in their "impossible" plan, but as said above, it doesn't amount to anything. We get a shot of Nora, horrified at the thought of kingdom-wide communications being down, but literally seconds later Team RWBY has made portals appear that everyone can walk through. So... why do we care about communications? More importantly, why does the show try to make us care? So much time is spent getting the viewer invested in problems that never come to mean anything. 

Including the problem of Salem herself.

Because the group successfully creates that evacuation plan. This is it. Everyone is leaving while Salem still reforms. 

Yang asks if they can use the vaults themselves as a single point for everyone to go to and Ambrosius agrees. So everyone is going to pile into the Vacuo vault that can only be opened by an unknown Maiden? They're going to put an entire kingdom's worth of people, including their enemies, into the vault where the Relic of Destruction is? Yeah, that's great. Prior to this — like if this had been the plan at the end of Volume 7 — I would have 100% agreed that these risks are better than death by Salem/grimm/cold. Now though, Oscar as axed Salem for an unknown length of time, the cold is having no impact on the civilians outside, and the grimm only attack background military personnel that supposedly no one cares about. They couldn't have spent another few minutes (especially with time stopped!) to figure out a means of getting to Vacuo that doesn't involve revealing and providing access to the location of a super secret vault? To say nothing of what they're going to do if Salem wakes up and snags one of those portals for herself. Two kingdoms for the price of one!

But that's what they're going with. Weiss gives Ambrosius a schematic of the kingdom, I guess, and he makes branching pathways appear with numerous portals for everyone to step through. They'll enter through one and, when they exit another, will be in Vacuo. Easy peasy, right? Especially since Ambrosius doesn't seem to have any limitations about how often his power is used. Is it three creations every 100 years like Jinn? We're not told, at least not to my recollection. However, I was expecting there to be a waiting period, that they'd fix Penny, go to evacuate the kingdom, and learn that sorry, I can't make another creation just yet. It feels like the sort of shit move these beings would pull — "Don't cry to me when it's not what you wanted" —  it would have been another commentary on the group's insistence on putting friends over the people's safety (like demanding the Ace Ops not bomb the whale because of Oscar), and crucially, would have kept the action in Atlas. Isn't that what this volume is? The battle for and potential destruction of the Kingdom of Atlas? We have two episodes left and, unless something unexpected happens, we're moving that action to Vacuo. Why? 

Meanwhile, Penny's corpse is just chilling in the background 😬

While all this is going on, Winter reassures Jacques that he and Ironwood will be evacuated too, though she makes it clear saving him was Weiss' idea. It checks out, considering Weiss is the one who turned her father's arrest into a joke last volume. Winter still takes his abuse seriously.

The group prepares to leave with a celebratory, "We did it!" from Weiss. I'm still banging my head against that dining room table. Before they can pass through the portal though, Ambrosius leaves them with one, dire warning: "Do not fall." 

In any other story a line like that is a neon sign announcing to the audience that someone will absolutely fall, and maybe they will, but RWBY has dodged consequences so often I wouldn't be surprised if this was merely another way to string us along. Remember all the hype surrounding Salem? The cold combined with her army and magic? How she was going to decimate Atlas and leave our group broken in a Fall 2.0?

I mean, we still have two episodes left. Forty minutes of content. Salem might still decimate them, especially since something has to happen in the finale. But god, it's a problem that we've come this far without a payoff. Salem randomly decided not to attack anyone, was stopped by a weapon added in solely for this purpose, and now the whole kingdom is being evacuated with a plan the group could have used at the start. This volume really is meaningless. 

“We go to vacuo and hope we’ve thought of everything” they say as the camera zooms in on Cinder's smiling face. For the second week in a row.

Bingo time!

Winter betrayed Ironwood, the group used the Staff of Creation, and I'm axing Maria on behalf of Pietro. You can't have the guy's daughter become human — after he was killing himself to give her his aura?? — and magically walk to Vacuo, not knowing if he's even survived since she last saw him, and expect me to think he hasn't been forgotten. Same with Maria. Has the group mentioned her since Amity cut out, notably for reasons they couldn’t explain? Of course not. Did they care to find out what happened? Of course not. I have no doubt they'll both re-appear in the next two episodes, Pietro crying over how perfect his girl is now and Maria congratulating the group on their actions, but we're still marking it.

This is the ugliest thing I’ve ever created, I hope you all are enjoying it :D

Another week, another couple feet added to the hole we’re digging. I know I keep saying I have no idea what's going to happen next... but I have no idea what's going to happen next. A Vacuo ending was not in the cards, not outside of them miraculously showing up in ships. Maybe they have been on their way to Atlas (somehow...) and will arrive precisely when everyone has left! Anything is possible at this point.

See you next Saturday, everyone. Hold on until then lol. 💜

[soyforramen]

Whoops, I slipped into a follow up of this prompt.

--

“How’s the wrist?”

Such an innocuous question. It rings flat in the sharp crags that line the chasm between them, echoing hollowly between them. But it’s still more than he’d said Saturday night. More than he thought he’d say.

Betty, never one to let any pain shine through, smiles at him. Her face morphs into that perfect Cooper mask, no crack or wrinkle to suggest anything was out of the ordinary. It pierces his soul to realize that he doesn’t know how to read her anymore.

To him, she looks just as happy and carefree as the first day they’d met in third grade.

“Still sore, but no lasting damage,” she says, rolling her wrist as proof. Even her voice is peppy and varnished to perfection. “How’s your head?”

His hand moves without thought to his forehead, his fingertips grazing the ugly red mess. Jughead jerks his head to the right, a move practiced in the mirror this morning to ensure his hair covered the welt.

“Nothing an aspirin can’t take care of,” he mutters.

He raises his coffee cup to his lips to keep from mentioning the whisky and rye he’d fallen headfirst into, a palliative cure after she’d disappeared up the stairs, leaving nothing but confusion and nadir in her wake. The lingering hangover was still a symphony of banging pots and pans along his temples, a never-ending reminder of his regret (relief?) of doing nothing.

They sip their coffee in silence, waiting for the meeting to begin. The artificial bridge he’d thrown across the chasm between them frays, its tethers loosening. In less than a minute, it’s fallen into the yawning black hole that now lies between them.

Betty's words… no. Not that. It was his inaction. His confusion. His uncertainty that created this false rift between them. The gravity of it tugging and pulling at every second between them, every atom, every conceivable future between them, each a warped, stretched snapshot of a future never to be.

It was enough to make him want to crawl back into the bottle and never come out again. His hand shakes, an aftereffect of the late night drinking, and he shoves it deep into his pocket. Betty’s eyebrows draw too close together, too close to concern for his tastes.

Toni claps her hands together, and Betty shoots him one last curious look. He refuses to look at her, turning to refill his mug. When he turns back around, Betty is in her usual seat next to Archie, a plastic smile on her face. Jughead slouches against the counter, too lost in his own morbid thoughts to pay much attention to the upcoming game to notice the increasingly concerned glances Betty sends his way.

Jughead watches as his students shuffle in, the twins he affectionately calls Bill and Ted the only two showing any trace of life. The bell rings, a clanging, offensive noise that makes everyone wince. It’s doubtful he’s the only one nursing a hangover.

“How many of you did the reading?” he asks when they settle in.

A collective groan ripples throughout the room. He can’t blame them; he’d never been able to finish The Odyssey in high school either.

“Pop quiz time,” he says.

Another groan, this time with a rousing argument against it, echoes through his already pounding head. Jughead holds his hands up in a conciliatory gesture.

“I want you to write about betrayal.”

The class quiets, some exchanging glances. It’s a sharp turn, a quick 180 that throws all off them off balance. Jughead has been ruthless so far, both in his grading and in his push to get them to learn critical thinking skills. Even he’s surprised at this course of action.

“Any kind of betrayal you can think of. You can talk about personal betrayal, family betrayal. Maybe one of your friends kissed your girlfriend, or maybe your mother chose your sister’s side over yours. Or maybe you write about a fictional betrayal. Hamlet and Ophelia, Brutus and Julius Caesar, Edward Pensieve and the Turkish delight.”

Wynnie’s hand shoots up, and Jughead inwardly winces. She’s always been the one to push back against any assignment, the one who questions everything he expects from them and makes class ten times longer.

“Can we write about a made up betrayal? With characters on, like, TV or something?”

Breathing a sigh of relief, he nods. “Anything is fair game, as long as you write it in a way that someone not familiar with the show, or book, or whatever, can understand what’s going on.”

“What about poetry?” another student asks.

“So long as you put the effort in, poetry is fine. Text threads, short stories, poems, letters, anything written.”

“Can we work together?” one of the twins asks.

“Sure, as long as you don’t bother the other students,” Jughead says with a shrug.

Bill and Ted high five before dragging their desks together.

Jughead is surprised at how well they’re taking this assignment. Every last thing has been a fight with them, from getting their attention to taking a test. Betrayal, though, seems to be something everyone can relate to.

As the class begins to write, Jughead sits down at his own desk. For a moment, he watches his students, kids in the same position he was once in, and wonders why he’s even here. Riverdale offered him little more than characters he could mold into his own, a setting for the decline of small town America.

Today, though, his mind wanders along words and phrases, glimpses into a different sort of reality. One ravaged by decay and rot, left to perish alone. And yet, he can’t help but see the small, green shoots of the future poke out of the ashes, tiny hints of hope for what’s to come. Perhaps nothing is ever static and unchanging. Perhaps things can turn around.

Jughead reaches into his bag for his own blank notebook.

He’s sitting on the porch that afternoon, struggling with the illegibly written translation. It’s a shame the state requires them to teach only the recommended books; Jughead would love to see how the story unfolds when thrown onto a fire.

“Hey.”

Jughead starts. When he sees it’s only Betty (only?), he stands abruptly, his entire body on fire, his legs jittery and ready to run.

“Hey,” he repeats. “Archie’s not here, but –“

Betty shakes her head and shoves her hands into the pockets of her jacket. “Can we talk?”

He swallows. Stupid of him to think he’d get away from this conversation. Jughead waves to the chair next to him. As Betty passes, her perfume tickles his nose. Long gone is the strawberry body spray she used in high school, a sweet, cloying smell. Now it’s a perfume, one that tickles his nose and clogs his sinuses.

They sit there quietly, neither willing to speak first. He’s lost for words, unable to start.

She sits patiently, calmly. Betty seems as if she hasn’t a care in the world, as if they were there to talk about the weather. Part of her training, he realizes. She’s no longer as impulsive as she once was, reaching and grasping and desperate for an immediate answer. This Betty Cooper is a reminder of the past, but only that.

“I’m sorry,” he manages, starting with the simplest of things.

Next to him, Betty shifts. He thinks he hears her sniffle (crying? allergies? derision at his lame start?), and he has to quash his immediately reaction. All he wants to do is reach out to her, to comfort her, to promise her the world to keep her from suffering.

But he’d done that before, long ago, in a completely different world. And he’d been trod upon, brushed aside in favor of her own cruel form of betrayal. Nothing he could have done after would have fixed the wound she’d carved in his soul. Even now, seven years distanced from the teenage woes, it lay between them, still raw and sore and bleeding from the continued betrayals of his life.

He wonders how he would have responded to her if he hadn’t known. If he hadn’t come home one night early to hear her and Archie upstairs. If he hadn’t turned to the Wyrm and listened to Sweet Peas acidic sniping just to get lost among the agave pinas and the juniper berries.

“It’s not,” he stutters, trying to find his footing, unsure of what he wants to say. “I couldn’t stop loving the Betty Cooper I knew. But I also never stopped hating what she did to me.”

The admission is the first emotionally honest thing he’s said in years. It’s painful to realize how deep it lay inside him, how long it took to finally cut out this festering, putrid thing that burrowed into him. Like a tumor, it could only grow, fed by hate and anger and depression. Hate and anger for both of them. It hadn’t turned out like it was supposed to.

Now that it lay out in the open between them, he felt different. Heavier, in some ways. But there was also a release. The pressure that had been building for so long was slowly lowering, as if he’d finally found the valve that would bring things back to normal.

“And I don’t know you,” he said, the words pouring out now. “Seven years, and only a handful of texts, a few voicemails. You’re not the person I remember. Hell, everyone is different from who they were, who I thought they were.”

He pauses to run a hand through his hair. He can feel Betty’s bright eyes staring at him, pleading with him for something, anything, that will make this better.

“We’re both different now, and there’s no way you can still love me. You don’t know me, you know who I was. We can’t just pick up where we left off, even if we wanted to. There’s too much between… Even if we were stupid enough to try,” he trails off, his words meandering as they try to find footing in the rocky space between them.

“We didn’t leave things in a good place,” Betty murmurs in agreement.

She shifts, and he looks at her for the first time since they sat down. Her legs are tucked up against her body, arms wrapped around them. It’s a protective stance. Against him, perhaps, or against the bare truth that he’s put in the open. He can’t blame her, not since he’s protected himself against most of his own life in other, less healthy ways.

Jughead sighs, empty of anything else to say. He stares at the fading light glowing through the leaves. It’s the perfect, picturesque scene of two high school sweethearts reuniting. At least, it was supposed to be. He didn’t know if he ever could do that to himself again.

Archie’s old truck chugs up the street, and Jughead stands. He scrapes the palms of his free hand along his pants, the other hand gripping his book. Archie waves through the windshield with a bright grin, and Jughead gives a half-hearted wave back before going inside.

He’s exhausted; after being mad for so long, it’s strange to be so empty of feeling. He’d give the world to be able to retreat back to Alphabet City and it’s various loan sharks. There, at least, he’d know the pain was no one’s fault but his own.

Jughead closes the bedroom door behind him, shutting out the rest of the world. It wasn’t his business what Betty did despite her attempts to bring him back into her life. He didn’t know if he was ready for that, or if he’d ever be. Ever since he’d been back, her presence gnaws at him, chipping away at the walls he’d built up over the years against her presence, and it frightens him that she’s stepped back into his thoughts so quickly and easily.

Thoughts and ideas collide and churn violently in his head. He throws himself down on his bed, determined to fall asleep despite the chaos.

But this time, sleep doesn’t come as easily as it always has. Words and feelings and phrases splatter against the back of his eyelids, graffiti tattooing images of a world never known. He pushes back against the cacophony until he can stand it no longer. Desperate to empty his thoughts, Jughead turns on the bedside lamp, pulls his laptop out from under the bed, and begins to write more than he’s been able to for years.

[lexosaurus]

I Love You

My fic for day 5 of DP Side Hoes Week (yes I’m a day behind). 

Character: Jazz Theme: Hospital

This oneshot exists within my Everything Was White fic series [ao3]. You do NOT have to be following Everything Was White to understand this fic, this one exists as a prequel in the timeline and I give enough context in the text for anyone to be able to understand it. 

Okay, enjoy!

---

Jazz sat on the armchair, her gaze blank. Hazy. She hadn’t moved since she sat down some time ago. Time moved without reason, and she wasn’t sure how long it had been. Her back hurt and her lips were chapped, but she hardly noticed her discomfort.

The only thing that mattered was the person laying on the bed before her.

The person she hardly recognized.

Four weeks. That’s how long he had been missing from their lives, that’s how long the Guys in White had him. Twenty-eight days on the dot.

She could never forget his eyes as he was dragged out the door. They were wild, desperately staring down their parents who were both pinned down by government agents with guns trained to their heads. He screamed, struggling against his captures. 

But it wasn’t enough. 

Because in the end, he was thrown in the back of a white van. All while Jazz stood on the stairs doing nothing. 

She should have freed him. She could have helped. But she was too weak. 

Too weak.

Her eyes stung, and she wanted to cry. Break down. Sob. But she had already used up her stock of tears hours ago, when she finally saw him for the first time since he’d be transferred out of critical care.

He was frail, tiny. Nothing but skin and bones. His body was scarred, torn, encased in gauze and casts. Doctors fluttered about, talking in hushed tones as they analyzed her brother’s body. They tried not to show it, but Jazz knew they were baffled by him.

There was talk about his injuries. He hadn’t woken up yet, at least not completely, but Jazz was already told of the more...drastic injuries.

The Y scar on his chest.

The paralysis.

The starvation.

No one knew what the permanent effects were going to be. No one knew how he was going to fair once he woke up. But there was one thing they all knew for certain, a truth that none of the Fentons had said out loud yet: 

Danny was not going to be the same anymore.

She crumbled, allowing her head to fall into her hands. Apparently, she still had more tears to give. A sob tore its way from her throat, pulling with it a wave of emotions that Jazz had just spent the last few hours desperately trying to repress.

She was tired. So, so tired. And yet, this nightmare refused to end.

“Danny, I—I’m so sorry.” Jazz’s voice was raw. The naked truth was hanging right there in front of her, the consequences of her complete failure. 

She should have been there for him during the ghost fight. The one between him and Skulker that ultimately led to his revelation right there high in the skies in front of the entire town. She could have helped him.

She should have known the Guys in White would then come surround their house and take him.

She should have tried harder to find him and break him out of the government compound. They tried so hard, but they couldn’t find the stupid building.

She should have practiced her questions better in court. Maybe then the jury would have decided sooner. She could have gotten him released before he was hurt so bad.

“I’m sorry.”

He didn’t respond.

“I love you so much, Danny. I’m so sorry.”

He didn’t respond.

---

“You alright there, son?” Jack asked. He tried to smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

It didn’t seem to matter. Jazz doubted Danny even heard their father’s question. She was honestly questioning if he even realized they were in the room.

His eyes wandered around the room as if he were still trying to take in the walls of the hospital. He woke up four days ago, and yet every day had been the same blank wandering gaze. 

Jazz hoped it was just the pain medication the hospital was giving him. She desperately clung onto the belief that her brother would snap out of it one day and would come home and he would be back to normal.

Back to how he was before.

“Your mother and I are going to meet with the surgeon.” Jack put an arm around Maddie, pulling her into his side. 

Her face was white, streaked with red as if she’d been crying recently, and the bags under her eyes had never been so pronounced. But Jazz couldn’t blame her. After all, she probably looked more or less the same.

“Stay with Danny, alright? We’ll come grab you after.”

“Sure, Dad,” Jazz said, putting on a smile she hoped was comforting.

Her mother muttered something that Jazz didn’t catch, and then both parents were gone. 

And Jazz was alone. With Danny.

Again.

She turned back to face him. The doctors had said that he’d sustained significant brain damage, and they weren’t sure yet how much communication he would be able to do. He was too drugged up still, too out of it. 

He couldn’t speak, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t understand her.

Or maybe that was her hopeful side talking again. She shouldn’t get her hopes up. She would only be hurt in the end.

“Hey, Danny,” Jazz tried. Her voice was thin. Dry. She tried to wet her lips and spoke again. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but I hope you’re comfortable. If you were wondering, you broke your spine. I mean, I’m sure you already knew that but—” Her voice cracked. “—you know. That’s why you, um, might be uncomfortable right now. It’s the brace.”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at her.

Just continued staring at the ceiling.

Jazz wondered if anything was going through his mind. If he had any questions. She would if she were Danny. 

She tried to imagine the sort of things he would say. His voice, crackling through the throes of puberty, as he poked fun at her in that annoying way only a brother could accomplish. She tried to envision a world where he could still do that.

And she tried not to think about the fact that there was a good chance that she’d never hear his voice again.

“Your SCI was incomplete, you know. So there’s still a chance…” Jazz shook her head. 

There she was getting hopeful again. 

“Everyone really missed you, Danny. I—I really missed you.”

He blinked slowly. In her imagination, Jazz heard him say “I missed you too.”

“I love you.”

He didn’t respond.

---

“What band are we in the mood for today?” Jazz asked, scrolling through her playlist.

Danny was starting to come to. He seemed to be able to hold eye contact, albeit not for very long, and his minute facial expressions showed at least some understanding of what was happening around him.

Although, he still hadn’t spoken yet.

Jazz glanced brightly down at him. Now that she knew he was conscious of her presence, she couldn’t afford to show up at the hospital in sweats with her tear-stained face anymore. She had to be there for him. She had to be strong.

Maybe she had been too weak to help him before. Maybe back then, she had failed him.

But she would be damned if she wasn’t strong enough to help him now.

“What do you think? MCR? Blink-182?” she asked. “I got these band names from Sam, by the way. So if she lied to me about what music you listen to now, don’t blame me.”

Danny just stared at her with his owl-ish expression.

“Here, if you want, you can choose.” Jazz held her phone screen out in front of him, watching as his eyebrows scrunched up ever so slightly as he gazed up at the screen.

Jazz felt her smile falter for a split second before she pulled her phone away and straightened herself up on her chair.

She had to be strong.

“It’s okay, I’ll just choose one.” She tapped the screen and set her phone down. 

The sound of over-compressed guitars filled the tiny bluetooth speaker on the windowsill, and Jazz beamed down at Danny, waiting for that tiny flicker of recognition to hit his face.

And, to her delight, some of the fog in his eyes momentarily lifted. He looked over to Jazz as if he were seeing her for the first time, the shock and disbelief seeping through the blank slate that was his expression.

Jazz was hardly able to keep the glee out of her voice. “You like it?”

His eyes flickered between Jazz and the bluetooth speaker. Back and forth again before settling back on the ceiling.

“Well, I’ll have to thank Sam for the recommendation later! She can’t wait to see you, you know. The doctors are only allowing family in your room right now, but maybe next week if you’re feeling up to it, Sam and Tucker can stop by. I don’t want to make any promises right now, but you never know.”

Danny’s eyes slowly traveled around the ceiling.

“Are you thirsty?” Jazz asked. “Hungry? Well, you’re probably not hungry. Doctors have been monitoring your nutrient intake a lot. I’m glad, too, because you have some color in your face again.”

His eyes shut, and a content smile twitched on his face.

Jazz couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked so peaceful.

“I love you, Danny.”

He didn’t respond. 

---

Danny was home now. That should have been a good thing. 

It should have been.

And it was. In so many ways, it was wonderful having him home again.

But in so many other ways, it wasn’t.

Jazz had been under some illusion that once he made it home, things would go back to normal. Sure, he would be in a wheelchair until his PT started, and he might not be able to turn into a ghost for a few weeks either, but her brother would be home. 

Except, Danny never came home. Physically, he did. But mentally he was still trapped somewhere far away.

He was talking now at least. He’d started talking the week before he’d left the hospital. He wasn’t able to speak in full sentences, at least not without pausing, and he wasn’t able to really understand long sentences either, but this was a start.

Jazz wanted to hope that things would get better, but hope was a dangerous drug.

After all, even though he’d started speaking again, he still refused to talk about what happened to him. Anytime Jazz would try to bring the conversation up, he’d clam up and close off for the rest of the day.

And that hurt. It hurt so bad. She so desperately wanted to be there and support him, to help him talk through the trauma he’d experienced, but he just didn’t want to.

But that was okay. It had to be okay. She had to be strong.

She stood in front of his door, pausing only to compose herself before knocking.

He didn’t acknowledge her knock, but Jazz wasn’t expecting him too. He was trying to isolate himself, and Jazz wasn’t going to let him.

She’d already failed him once. 

“Good morning, Danny!” Jazz bursted into the room, her voice chipper despite the fact that she hadn’t slept last night.

She doubted that Danny did either.

Danny was lying on top of his comforter, already dressed. Their mom must have gotten him situated before shutting herself down in the lab.

Their parents seemed to be doing that a lot lately.

“Come on, get up. I come bearing an activity!”

“Too early,” Danny grumbled.

Jazz ignored him, sauntering into the room brandishing a large, easy piece jigsaw puzzle she’d just ran out to buy that morning.

It was hard to find one for kids that wasn’t either a princess castle or a race car scene. Fortunately, the store had one on sale that had colorful, cartoon baby ghosts covering the image.

“Either you get up, or I drag you up. Either way, you’re doing this puzzle with me.”

“Puzzle?” Danny asked.

Jazz tried not to stare as he struggled upright, only swooping in to set his pillows upright behind him. “Yeah, puzzle.”

She set the box down in front of him, pulling off the lid and revealing the large pieces in front of him.

“That’s...so Boring.”

“Well, the doctors still want you avoiding screens for a little while longer. I figured this was better than staring at the wall.”

Danny eyed the box, his face impassive. 

“Here, wait.” She went out into the hallway, grabbing a large piece of cardboard from the wall. “I brought something to make the puzzle on. Figured it would be easier than the mattress.”

“Okay.” He picked up one of the pieces, inspecting it slowly as if he couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

“So…” Jazz plopped herself down on the mattress next to Danny and put the cardboard over their laps. “What do you think we should do first?”

Danny gazed blankly down, his eyes trailing between the cardboard and the puzzle piece in his hand. He blinked, and then put the puzzle piece down on the cardboard.

“Okay, we can start with that one!” Jazz chirped.

“No…” Danny ran his hand through his hair. “No that’s not...need to sort.”

“Oh?” Jazz grabbed another piece from the box. “So what should I do with this one then?”

Danny gazed quizzically over at Jazz, grabbing the piece to inspect it. “Edge,” he finally said, setting the piece down on the opposite side of the board from the first piece.

“So we’re sorting the edge pieces from the regular pieces?” 

Danny hummed, grabbing another piece from the box.

“Sounds like a good plan!”

They worked together in near silence after that, Jazz only stopping every so often when she could feel Danny’s attention slipping to ask him to help her sort a piece. It was almost cute how determined he was to complete the task correctly. It almost reminded Jazz of the quiet determination that would slip onto his features in the moments just before he transformed into Phantom. 

Solving the puzzle was a whole different beast. If Jazz were honest, she wasn’t sure if they would have been able to finish in one sitting. Danny still tired far too rapidly throughout the day, and he still slept for more hours than he was awake.

But finally Danny snapped the last piece into place, completing their simple blob ghost picture.

“Nice job!” Jazz put her hand up for a high five.

Danny blinked, slowly processing the motion, before his brain caught up and he gave a little smirk, a tiny eye roll, but met Jazz’s hand all the same.

She put the cardboard with the now completed puzzle on the floor before sitting back against the fluffy pillows. Breathing out, she allowed herself to sink back into the cushions for just a moment.

She was so tired. 

Her brain swirled, and she wanted to sink deeper into the darkness. But she couldn’t. She wasn’t allowed to.

“Are you asleep?” Danny asked.

“No.”

“Oh. Okay.”

A quiet trepidation settled over the pair. Jazz could feel the unspoken questions hanging in the air like forbidden fruit ripe for picking. But the apples were just out of reach, and she knew the branches wouldn’t sink lower until Danny was ready. 

But he had to come home first. He would never be ready to tell her what happened until he finally came back to them. And Jazz didn’t know how long that would take.

“I love you,” Jazz said.

Danny didn’t respond.

---

Thanks for reading!

[castiels-majestic-wings]

Sixth Sense - Chapter 5

Paring: Loki x Reader

Word Count: 3,089

Warnings: Injury Recovery, Harsh!Tony.

Posted: 17/01/2021

Waking up in Asgards infirmary wasn’t what you expected. You expected Odin to have someone transfer you back to earth so human doctors could handle you instead of him wasting his resources. But as you got up you jerked in pain. The stab wound was stitched and bandaged, but you had healed enough to move at least, only if you were careful. Your legs dangled over the edge as Odin walked in. You bowed your head refusing to look at him.

“You have awakened, child. How are you feeling?” You kept your head down, refusing to look at him. He was alone, which made you wary.

“I’m fine. But I must speak to you about what happened when Loki died. I tried to save him, as did Thor. But he died without the darkness within him. I healed him before you could speak again. He gave his life to save Thor’s.” That’s when you looked into his eyes. “He died a hero. I owe him my life.”

“Yes, Thor has told me of your endeavours.”

“When can I return to Earth? With Loki gone I have no purpose here.”

“You may leave with Thor when he returns there himself.”

“Thank you, Odin, and please, tell Asgard of Loki’s sacrifice.”

“I will.” A guard came up and whispered something in Odin’s ear. “Thor has arrived. You shall depart soon” You nodded as he left. Not long after a voice boomed through the halls disturbing your peace.

“Y/N” Thor’s voice echoed through the halls before he walked through the door.

“Thank the Norns that you’re okay!” Thor had hugged you tighter than needed.

“Ow- Thor- Wound!” You gasped in pain once he released you. He held his hands out almost touching you trying to examine you without making contact.

“I’m fine Thor. How’s Jane? Did you save earth again?”

“Jane is fine, and yes I did. Earth sustained some damage but I defeated Malekith.”

“What are you going to do now? ”

“I will return to Midgard. As will you. The Avengers need us.”

“Okay, Just, don’t tell Tony that I was involved. Say I got caught in the crossfire. He would hate to know that I was on the front lines.” You giggled at the thought of Tony yelling at Thor about your safety. You looked back at Thor, ready to leave.

“Let’s go home” You smiled as you got off the bed. Thor had held on to you giving you support as you made it down to the Bifrost. You had been dropped off at your balcony. You headed inside with Thor. Jarvis started speaking as you entered,

“Y/N you have arrived back safely. I shall inform Mr Stark of your arrival.” Before you could stop Jarvis a loud crash was heard from above you. Tony had dropped whatever project he was working on and started making his way down. Footsteps thundering above you. Thor had gently helped you down onto the couch as Tony walked in through the Elevator.

“Hey, Tony-”

“Don’t ‘Hey Tony’ me. Where have you been!”

“Uh. You see I went to Asgard to-”

“No excuses!”

“It’s not an excuse, Tony, just listen and I’ll tell you what happened” He huffed but stayed silent urging you to continue.

“I had to go to Asgard so I could- speak, to Loki.”

“You what?” His voice was quiet but strained. Trying to stay calm at the thought of it.

“Since I can read auras, and I read him when you caught him after the New York attack. I had already found one of his darkest secrets. So I thought if I went to speak to him, with Thor to keep me safe. Then maybe- maybe I could find out why he had attacked us. And I did.”

“So? Why did he?”

“Because he would have died if he didn’t. He was- He was tortured into submission, Tony. If he didn’t obey, he would have died at the hands of that awful creature” Tears began falling from your eyes, yet, you didn’t try to stop them. “He told me everything. All of his troubles, from his childhood to now.” Tony's face no longer showed anger, but empathy, and compassion. Seeing you cry, it made him rethink the situation. How had Loki acted while fighting them? Was he hiding his true emotions? Or did he just straight-up lie to you? He went with the question he wanted to ask, instead of sparing your feelings.

“Hey, kid. Are you sure he wasn’t lying or deceiving you? All he does is lie and manipulate-” Looking at him again the tears continued to fall as shock covered your face. You couldn’t believe that the man you looked up to, wouldn’t even try to understand someone else’s situation.

“Manipu- Manipulate? How could you say that? He- He died saving me, Tony! I saved him from his darkness, so he saved my life in return. I assure you. He was never evil.”

“Kid-” You couldn’t take his criticisms anymore, you were wounded, tired and as far as they knew grieving for someone you hardly knew. You had a connection after he opened up to you so much. Even if you knew he was still alive, you had to act as if he was gone.

“Look I’m tired okay. I just need to rest so my wound can heal.” Not giving anyone time to respond, you walked towards the hallway leading to your bedroom, closing the door behind you before you tried to rest. You heard them talk for a while, you assumed Tony had asked Thor of the details he knew, of your and Loki’s relationship- whatever it was. It wasn’t romantic, but it was more than friendship. It was an understanding of sorts.

You weren’t allowed on any missions until you were fully healed. Tony had insisted you stay in the penthouse until you were in full working order. It only took two weeks for the wound to heal. You knew it wouldn’t take long, but Tony was babying you so much it started to irritate you. So you did what any normal person would do. You left. You grabbed your backpack before heading to the elevator to leave the building.

You made your way through the streets of New York, going to the small cafe you knew wasn’t that far away. It wasn’t on the main street so it was normally quite empty. You walked in smelling the coffee and freshly baked goods. Being a regular there - when you weren’t on a mission- the cashier smiled your direction as you gave her a wave.

“Y/N! It’s been a while. Where have you been?”

“Well I kinda, got injured at work so I was told to take it easy”

“Well, working for the government is always dangerous. I’m just glad you’re okay”

“Yes, I’m fine, can I just get my regular please, Sophie?”

“Sure thing sweetie! I’ll bring it to ya once it’s done.” You gave her a small smile that she returned before getting your order. Sitting at the booth by the window you pulled a book from your backpack. Not long after Sophie returned with your order, you thanked her briefly before letting her get back to work. You enjoyed the serene moments you had here. It wasn’t fully silent, but it was never too loud for you. Taking a sip of your drink you looked out to the streets of New York. It was getting darker. You had left later than you normally would, thanks to Tony and his stupid ‘you can’t leave till you’re better’ rules. But it was still beautiful none the less.

While taking in the scenery a man sat across from you. You stared daggers at him to show you weren’t exactly interested, that was until you saw who it was. Loki. At least, you knew it was him by his aura alone. But he had used an illusion to give himself a different appearance. He had the same face, but he had shorter, light brown hair, that was curled. He also had some facial hair. He was wearing a black trenchcoat that was undone showing the white shirt he wore. And you had to agree, he was indeed attractive like that.

“Loki. I knew you were alive” You gave a shy smile before taking another sip of your drink.

“Well, I thought you might. You said yourself you can always see auras. So I assumed that even if I faked my death you would see through it.”

“Your assumption is correct” A small chuckle escaped your lips. Seeing him look so, Midgardian. It was so foreign, yet you enjoyed it. Having his company again was a nice feeling. Considering everyone thought he was dead, it was risky coming here, but even with the same face his appearance was different so no one would notice unless they were looking for it. You spent the rest of the time ranting about Tony’s stupid rules and overprotectiveness over you. Loki had just let you talk through it, the past couple of weeks had been so draining, so it was nice to rant about it to someone. Once you were done Loki just kept looking your direction for a couple of seconds before eventually responding.

“My judgement on this is that Stark seems so see you as a daughter, maybe even a little sister. So he naturally becomes overprotective when he thinks you’re hurt or in danger of any kind.” You thought about his words and they made sense. Tony had you by your side since you were a teenager. S.H.I.E.L.D found you through him. You never thought about it but he was like a father figure to you.

“That makes sense. But I guess I never thought about it. He is like a father figure to me. But he’s also one of my best friends. He took me in when I was younger.” You looked outside, gazing at the tower in the distance. “I should go back though, I’ve been gone for hours. He would be worried.” Loki frowned but stood up with you as you placed your backpack on your shoulder.

“Let me walk you back, it’s dark out.” A pout appeared on your face, you wanted to walk with him but would Tony recognise him?

“I could change my appearance again so Stark wouldn’t recognise me.”

“There are plenty of doppelgangers in this world. I’ll just tell him you’re my old friend who came to visit” You said goodbye to Sophie as she gave a thumbs up and a cheeky grin saying ‘go get him’. She had assumed you were on a date. Considering how long you spoke, you could see why. The walk back to the tower was short, you wished it would last longer. Since he was presumed dead you didn’t know how much time you could spend together. Granted you hardly spent any time together before today, but it was so nice, you wanted to do it again. And so did he. He never enjoyed time with a Midgardian before he spent time with you. You shared his interest in books, and quiet places. You listened to his problems and empathised with him. You cared for him. There was a new, unknown feeling bubbling in his chest. He didn’t know why, but he felt drawn to you. Could it have been your ability to read his memories? Had you implanted some of yourself into his subconscious? Or was it just that you had cared for him, so he cared for you in return.

Making it to the tower you had insisted he leave you at the door but he entered the elevator with you ignoring your pleas. You knew Tony would ask questions, but Loki was persistent. You knew Jarvis was listening in so you knew you couldn’t speak to him as Loki. But you had assumed Jarvis would update Tony on your arrival by the time you got to your floor. The doors opened and you had stepped into your apartment leading Loki inside. You placed your backpack on the couch before making your way to the kitchen to get a drink. Loki was observing your place, looking for the small details of it that showed your personality. Like the small paintings placed above the television. The pictures of your family you placed on the mantle. Even the way you organised your things. He wanted to know all about you.

“Jarvis, is Tony back yet?” Confused as to who you were speaking with, Loki made his way towards you before being startled by a voice.

“Yes ma’am, would you like me to inform him of your return?” He continued his way to you noticing no one was present when you came into view.

“Yes, but tell him I have a friend over. We met up at the cafe”

“Of course, ma’am” You rolled your eyes before scolding him.

“How many times have I told you to stop calling me that! You’re making me feel old” You grumbled.

“I’m sorry Miss Y/N”

“Who are you speaking to?” The look of absolute confusion on his face made you giggle.

“Oh, that’s Jarvis. He’s the AI.” You turned towards him, mug in hand.

“AI?” You nodded leaning against the counter.

“Artificial Intelligence. He’s basically the security system, he’s always watching, always listening.”

“Why doesn’t a lady have any privacy in this realm?” His voice was quiet like he was talking to himself.

“Yes, we do. But since I’m technically an Avenger, it’s all for my protection. But he will stop if I ask. Since I’m the only female under his watch, Tony made adjustments so I could get privacy when I wanted. It’s voice-activated though. The phrase itself doesn’t matter unless it’s my voice.”

“Interesting” He placed a hand to his mouth deep in thought before you heard the ping of the elevator opening. You didn’t need to look to know it was Tony. He walked into the kitchen as Loki looked towards the door. Knowing he won’t let you speak you let him do so first.

“Why did you leave? Where did you go? And who is he?” He emphasised as he stared daggers at Loki. But you knew not to act suspicious. You shrugged as you answered his questions.

“Because you had trapped me here. To the cafe. And this is a friend of mine.” Taking a sip of your drink you tilted your head towards Loki. Tony continued staring. If he kept looking he might recognise him.

“The names Luke” Loki held his hand out awkwardly and dropped it realising Tony wouldn’t take it. After he introduced himself to Tony you realised the tension was high. Clearing your throat, you put your mug in the sink before making your way to the doorway, which Tony was standing in. You stopped in front of him placing a hand on his arm.

“Tony, don’t ruin this for me. I haven’t seen him in ages, and your pretty intimidating since you’re a billionaire and an avenger. Just leave, please. We’ll talk this through when he leaves.” He looked at your pleading eyes before nodding silently. He left, but not before sending intimidating eyes back at Loki. Once you knew he was gone you exhaled the breath you didn’t realise you were holding.

“Jarvis. I would like a private conversation, can you mute all camera’s until I say otherwise.”

“Of course Miss Y/N.” You waited a couple of seconds before nodding your head Loki’s direction, indicating that you wanted him to follow as you walked toward the couch. You sat down gesturing to the seat next to you. As he sat down you moved your body to face him.

"Now then, I have some questions." He nodded urging you to continue."Why did you fake your death, I've had to pretend that I still think you are supposedly dead."

"Why to take the throne of course. If I became Odin no one would know."

"So you will use illusions to become Odin and take over the throne? But how will you do that with Odin still present?"

"Easy, I used a spell that My Mother- Frigga taught me"

"Used- so you've already done it?!" You leaned closer to him intrigued by his success.

"Of course. I just had to see you first." Leaning back once more you knew you had to ask.

"Well, where is Odin now?"

"A care home here in New York" You pondered whether you should ask him or not before deciding to anyway.

"Which one? Would you like me to keep an eye on him. To make sure he doesn't break from your spell. I'm not doubting your skill or anything. But he's the Allfather. He's powerful"

"There's no guarantee that he won't break free from it. But it should last a couple of years at least." Nodding to show your understanding, you held his hand between your own.

"I know that this is what you always wanted. But have you thought of the consequences" Questioning the God of Mischief would normally be a stupid act, follwed by an order, a threat or a beating of some kind. But he wouldn't hurt you. He had proved that when he saved your life, and returned to check on you after you were injured.

"I have. But this is the better option. Odin gave orders to stop Thor no matter the cost. Even if it ends in his death. I can't let him do that. So i took over."

"So the Odin that was with me-"

"Yes, it was me. But I couldn't let Thor know. Making sure the guards didn't kill him when he came to bring you back here was difficult. They questioned why Odin changed his mind so soon."

"Makes sense but-" The elevator opened halting your conversation. Cap walked in holding some papers. Shuffling through them before picking one up as he spoke.

"Y/N I know you just got back but you need to take a look at this" Eyes narrowing you walked towards him taking the paper from his grasp. Skimming through the documents you stopped and re-read the same sentence over and over again. Trying to make sense of it. These were unofficial S.H.I.E.L.D documents. It was Tony's statement. From when he found you all those years ago. And alongside it, was a picture. The item that was the source of your power.

Sixth Sense Taglist: @lovermrjokerr @lord-byron @lucywrites02 @violetica @quirkyreaderwriter @prettysbliss @ditsyisadumbadjective

[latte-fairytaekwoon]

Ateez: Others Disapprove Of Their S/O

A/N: Not a warning, but this was pretty angsty.

Kim Hongjoong:

He knew it was a bad idea to join the others at this party. You were both in the same line of work, you were bound to run into each other sooner or later. Hongjoong tried his best to make sure it was later and not soon. That's why he kept himself locked in his studio or in the practice room. He didn't want to think about it, he didn't want to think about you, he refused to allow his mind to wander back to your relationship. If he kept his mind somewhere else, kept it occupied into another task, maybe memories of you wouldn't creep up on him, and then his heart wouldn't hurt.

His members dragged him out eventually though, wanting him to have some fun after being cooped up for so long.

"Why should they care anyways? They're partly responsible for what happened."

He thought to himself as he sat in a corner, the liquor in his cup still untouched. He wasn't just resented at them for being so negative about his relationship with you. He was also angry at you for deciding to end it, for giving up, for not fighting for the love he believed was stronger than anything else.

His gaze wondered around the room, the music that was blasting full volume suddenly muted when he caught sight of you. You were just as shocked to see him. All the feelings he tried to lock away hit him immediately. There you were, still so beautiful to him, still holding on to his heart and taking his breath away like the first time you met.....

But he couldn't let you know that. When you made way to reach out to him, he stood up and walked away, refusing to look at you anymore. He was still hurt and angry at you. Maybe one day he'll forgive you.....

"But I can't do it right now...."

Park Seonghwa:

Seonghwa tried so hard to protect you from the harsh words that were sometimes said about you, from the criticism that was unnecessarily and so wrongly thrown at you. But you weren't stupid.

You knew what his parents thought of you, you could feel their disapproval of you from miles away. You tried to ignore it at first, but after some time you couldn't. Their words were always in the back of your mind. And you thought maybe it would be better for Seonghwa if you just left him.

"No."

He didn't even let you finish your sentence, he immediately responded.

"Seonghwa please don't make this difficult." You begged him.

"It's not difficult at all Y/N! I love you, you love me! Why should it matter what others think?!" He didn't want to raise his voice at you, but he was so emotional right now.

"Seonghwa......they're your parents...." You sobbed, unable to say anything anymore.

Seonghwa began crying as well. His arms held you close to him, not wanting and not willing to let you go. Not yet.

"Y/N listen to me. I know it's selfish to ask you to stay when you're hurting so much, but I promise you that I love you. I love you and I won't let anyone or anything come between us. But please.......stay with me...."

He was begging you at this point and deep down, you knew you had no strength to say no.

Jeong Yunho:

You hated the stares his friends would give you, hated the way they immediately judged you before even getting to know you. But most of all, you hated the way Yunho pretended like it wasn't real. You knew it wasn't his fault, he always tried to keep a positive vibe for you two. But you just couldn't anymore.

"Yunho stop! Just stop and face reality! Your friends hate me!" You finally snapped one time.

Yunho just sat there, scared. You've never raised your voice at him before.

"N-no they don't-"

"Yes they do!" You cut him off.

"Maybe they just need time-"

"Yunho, just stop......let's just stop all this."

Those were the last words you said to him. And for almost a month, Yunho hardly went out or even got out of bed. He was broken, no longer the happy puppy he was before. He longed for you.

That's when his friends realized how wrong they were and how they needed to fix things as quickly as possible. And thus a long phone call ensued, apologies were given and a fast drive to the dorm was scheduled.

Yunho was oblivious to all this. He was currently curled up in a ball, hidden in his blankets. He didn't even bother paying attention to the opening of his door.

"Guys, just leave me alone." He said, but was not expecting to hear the voice he had been wanting to hear for a while.

"Yunho....."

Uncovering himself from the blankets, he looked up, wondering if it was a dream, if his mind was only seeing things, or you really were standing there in front of him.

"Y/N...."

Kang Yeosang:

Yeosang was frustrated. It irked him to no end that you cared so much about everyone's opinions. Yes it made him angry that people couldn't be happy about you two, but he never gave a damn about people's opinions and he had hoped you wouldn't either.

"Why should we care about what others say about us? It's not wrong." He felt like he was repeating himself over and over again.

"Because sooner or later you are going to care when they decide to leave you." You tried reasoning with him.

"Bullshit. I'm not going to care, wanna know why? I trust them enough to know they won't leave me, just like I trust you."

You kept quiet and your silence scared him.

"Because....you wouldn't leave me either.... right?" He seemed to ask that question more as a reassurance to himself than to you.

You looked down.

"Yeosang.....I'm sorry." Was all you could say.

"Oh my God!"

Yeosang ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, tears threatening to spill out, but he refused to let you see him cry. He was stronger than this. His fists slammed the table that he was reclining over, and he stayed quiet, trying to compose himself. You walked over to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeosang-"

"No! You know what?! Just leave if you're going to! Might as well get it over with! You obviously don't care about me enough to stay despite what others think!"

He cut you off and pushed your hand away, not even sparing you one last glance. You walked over to the front door, looked back at the man you love one last time before whispering:

"Goodbye Yeosang. I love you."

He didn't respond, he just heard the door shut behind you. And immediately, he regretted everything, but he knew there was nothing he could do....

"It's over...."

Choi San:

The company was giving you a really hard time. They really didn't want your relationship with San to continue. You tried to be strong at first, but they hit you with the one thing that easily changed your mind.

"What if his career gets ruined because of you?"

That hit you hard. You knew how passionate San was about his job. He loved it. And you couldn't.....you didn't want to ruin something he worked so hard for. You loved him so much and were willing to step away from his life if it meant sparing him that situation.

"You're what?" San couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I'm breaking up with you." You repeated yourself, trying hard not to cry in front of him.

San stayed silent, so many questions running through his head. 'What went wrong? Why all of a sudden? Was it something he did?'

"Please tell me you're kidding....I mean you were fine and happy recently....I don't understand." At this point, he was just mumbling whatever came to his head.

"Don't try to understand. Just make things easier for yourself and leave."

You didn't mean to sound cold or indifferent to him. But you knew that if you showed him you cared, or that you were hurting, he'd never let you go and you wouldn't be able to hold on to your resolution.

"...... Is there someone else?"

You were shaken up by his assumption. You wanted to scream 'Of course not! I've only loved you and only you!', but you didn't, you just stayed silent and straight faced. Your silence was worse for San.

"Fine."

He scoffed and proceeded to make his way out the door, out of your life, taking with him your heart while his was shattered to a million pieces.

Song Mingi:

Mingi just blinked and stayed standing there silently, wondering if he heard you right or not.

"Haha. That was a really funny joke baby." He giggled awkwardly, hoping you really were kidding.

"Mingi..... I'm serious."

He swallowed harshly, looking into your eyes and seeing how serious you were.

"Please tell me this is some sort of prank, a cruel prank. Please..... anything but that it's the truth..."

You could tell he was losing his mind, his voice was getting higher and higher.

"Mingi.....please calm-"

"Don't tell me to calm down Y/N! How can I be calm when you're trying to break up with me?! You're my whole world! I love you! Please don't do this to me!"

By this point he was on his knees, his arms wrapped around your waist, sobbing face hidden in your abdomen. He was holding on to you like his life depended on it. He didn't want to let you go, he couldn't. If he did, you'd disappear from his life forever.

Seeing him suffering so much made you realize you couldn't follow through. You loved him, and he loved you. You could no longer put up any resistance.

"Mingi...... I'm sorry..." You whispered as your hands gently stroked his head.

"Please don't say that unless you take what you said back." He was shaking at this point.

Bending down, you pulled him into a tight hug.

"I love you Song Mingi. And I'll never leave you."

Jung Wooyoung:

Wooyoung knew what other people thought of you. He usually tried to ignore it, figuring they'd stop eventually. But he reached his limit when they suggested he broke up with you.

"I'm sorry what?" Wooyoung's eyes were practically daring them to repeat what they said.

"I just think it'd be better if you two broke it off. Think about what your fans would think if word got out." They tried to explain themselves.

Wooyoung chuckled sarcastically.

"My fans are not some judgmental assholes like you. They'll understand and support me. And you know what? They'll love Y/N just as much as I do. And I suggest you shut that mouth of yours before I shut it for you. Never speak of my significant other again."

It escalated even more and you ended up finding out when Wooyoung came over to your place. He tried to hide it, but right away you noticed his busted lip and bruised temple.

"Jung Wooyoung. What kind of trouble did you manage to get yourself into this time?" You were ready to nag at him as you started looking through your first aid kit.

"Well by the time I'm finished telling you what happened, you won't be able to deny that I love you."

And you really couldn't. You really felt lucky to know Wooyoung had thick skin like you and you both loved each other too much to pay attention to what other people said. Although his thick skin got him into trouble constantly, you wouldn't have him any other way.

Choi Jongho:

Jongho and you tried to ignore the criticisms that others threw at you. You could take what they said about you, but you couldn't stand it when they dragged Jongho into it. And he was the same, he hated all the unnecessary backlash that was thrown at you. You both tried everything to make them change their minds, try to make them understand you two, but it proved to be impossible.

"Should we just break up?" You questioned him.

It wasn't anything new, you've heard others suggest it anyway.

"I don't want to.....but I don't want you getting hurt because of me." Jongho felt selfish if he asked you to stay. He didn't want you to suffer anymore.

"And I don't want you hurting, nor do I want your career to suffer damage." You confessed.

And so it was decided: you opted for breaking things off for the meantime. But you weren't completely giving up. You both promised that in the future you'd be back together, hopefully by then everyone would mature and be more accepting.

"I'll always love you. And I'll wait for you. Just please..... wait for me as well." Jongho cupped your cheeks and kissed you fervently, knowing it'd be a while until he'd be able to do it again

Gifs not mine, credit goes to their respective owners. And excuse me while I go dry my tears and blow out my nose

[maybe-its-micheal]

[I wanna try writing something short, this is if Tubbo survived the firework blast and was taken back to Pogtopia to heal]

Tommy rubbed his eyes and sat up. He was laying on the cold floor of Pogtopia's entrance, the staircase down to the vast cave to his left, and Tubbo's bed in front of him. He slowly got to his feet and broke open the dirt door to the forest outside to have a quick look. The air was heavy, and the early morning sun stung his eyes. It took only a few seconds for him to decide to go back in and close the door up.

"Morning, Tubbo," he croaked with a sore voice. "It's day 3, now. You sure are taking your time, huh?" There was no response. Tubbo hadn't been fully conscious since the incident at the festival, suffering severe burns and lacerations all over his body. Tommy could still see flashes of red white and blue when he closed his eyes. The whooshing and crackle of fireworks played over and over in his head, he was scared, and angry, and would have given anything to be the one holding that weapon on stage with Schlatt.

His face scrunched up and his vision blurred with tears as he did his best to push the memory away. He was tired of seeing it, hearing it, and tired of stewing in it's consequences. He wanted to fix it all, heal Tubbo, get rid of Schlatt, and have everything go back to how it was before the election. He didn't want to think about how Wilbur had changed, or what Technobalde did. He might have started to cry, but heard footsteps coming up the stairs and wiped his face.

Technoblade emerged from the spiral staircase, a small brown leather pouch in his hand. "Hey, Tommy," he said in an awkward, shakey voice. "What do you want?" Tommy demanded. It was very easy for him to turn pain into anger, and Technoblade was one of the easiest people in the world for Tommy to be angry at right now. "I haven't seen you eat since, um... well, I brought you some baked potatoes for when you're ready." He paused then added, "me and Wilbur have been worried."

Tommy turned to face him. "I don't want your god damn potatoes, and I dont give a shit about you and Wilbur worrying. Get out," he spat. "Right," Techno responded. His hands were shaking now, and his low voice had raised to a far less familiar octave. "I'm sorry, just one last thing. I wanted to give you this."

Tommy whipped his head around, fury in his eyes, ready to push Techno down the stairs if he wouldn't leave him alone, but his expression melted as soon as he saw what was in his hands. "Where did you get that?" He asked. "Its a book, I went-" "I know its a fucking book!" Tommy interrupted. "I asked you where you got it." "Tubbo's library. I figured you'd-" Tommy grabbed the book and flipped through the first few pages. "How did you find the library?" He asked. "Human GPS," was all Techno said in response.

Once Tommy was alone he read through the first page. It was a story Tubbo had told him about, but he'd never read it. He set it down and plucked a potato from the bag. He stared at it for a few minutes. He hadn't left Tubbo's side since he was brought back to Pogtopia, which meant he'd been in the same small, empty room for a few days now. He never cared to go down and grab himself something to eat. "What do you think?" He asked Tubbo. "I think he's full of shit trying to suck up to me with potatoes. What's his deal with potatoes anyway?" He dropped the spud to the ground, refusing to take a bite. His pride thanked him, but his tired body did not.

"And what about the book? It's your favorite, right?" No response. "How did you even read it? Doesn't make any sense. But I know I'm not going to forgive him just because he brought us some stupid book, it doesn't fix any of this." He set the book down and slouched over, feeling like if Tubbo could respond he would be agreeing with him right now.

After a few minutes of unhappy silence, he picked the book up again. The leather cover had a worn texture, and he imagined all the time Tubbo must have spent reading it. He could see him in his mind taking it off of the shelf, or smiling has he turns the page... Tommy read the title out loud.

Soon he had finished the first 2 chapters, all read out loud to Tubbo, because maybe he could hear somehow, and maybe he'd rather listen to a story than angsty silence. He kept reading, getting invested into the plot. The day dragged on, and Tommy continued to read. He hardly even noticed how long he had been reading for until he set the book down. Outside the moon had risen, and the sounds of night mobs could be heard faintly through the walls.

Tommy sat quietly, a bit surprised he finished the whole book in a single day. "Uh, the end..." he said, setting it down. "The end... I've always loved that story's ending..."

Tommy thought he imagined it at first, the voice was so faunt he hardly even heard it. "Tubbo??" He spun around to face his friend, "Tubbo!!! You're awake, man, how do you feel?"

[Any advice/criticism welcome :)]

[sinkix]

- What your fav Haikyuu!! Character says about you│Karasuno edition -

Obviously these aren’t meant to be taken too seriously lol. I’ll probably make this into a series at some point where I include the other teams idk this took me way too long to do JWIDJQENWKJQFN WE’LL SEE. ENJOY! <3

2D men are infinitely superior I said what I said.

Hinata: 

A sucker for motivational speeches or quotes and they always get you hyped up.

Very ambitious and positive despite frequently getting lost in life

Not as innocent as you seem but still a cinnamon roll lololol

You probably eat fruit as a regular snack n ppl judge you for it

Highkey a dumbass but in a very endearing way so people can’t help but like you

Summer is probs ur fave season

Definitely own several plushies and definitely get defensive about it

The friend people go to when they need cheering up.

You either go to bed at 8pm or 3am no in between.

Your texting style consists of several messages as opposed to one paragraph/sentence with the use of MANY emojis.

You 100% fuck with pineapple on pizza. 

Got your head stuck in a cat flap that one time.

Have a hella low alcohol tolerance or don’t drink at all.

Hella clueless when it comes to people flirting with you, they have to hold a neon sign in front of you for you to get the message

“Oh you were flirting with me?” “I was every day for 5 months but thanks for finally noticing”

Definition of a tab hoarder, your pc/laptop frequently crashes because it can’t handle that many but you refuse to get rid of any.

Always get toothpaste stains on your shirt no matter how careful you are.

“Wait we had homework???”

Nishinoya:

You often get random bursts of energy outta nowhere or at 2am and have no clue how to handle it 

You can’t help but head bang and scream the lyrics to your fav songs.

Probably have a hella diverse music taste.

Likely an active/outdoorsy person who either does sports or wants to.

Vvv loyal, type of friend you can call in the middle of the night and you’ll be there.

Chaotic good or Chaotic neutral.

You’re either one of the most responsible people in the room or one of the most fuckin chaotic and irresponsible lmao no in between it just depends on your mood.

Frequently pull all nighter’s and doesn’t even feel guilty about it

Chug soda like it’s water.

An extrovert or one of those introverts that are bat-shit once you actually get to know them.

You have zero shame, can and will run across the street stark naked for a cheeseburger and a can of sprite.

Like fuck yeah who wouldn’t for a burger and some sprite y’know??

Despite being a whirlwind you are actually a hella chill person to have as company.

You own a skateboard or want to.

Own at least one pair of converses or vans.

Probably have a bucket list or tons of future plans for travelling/adventures stored in your head.

You really want a dog and would call it something like Dexter or Human Destroyer 9000.

Likely have had several hair colour phases.

A slut for doritos.

You ate glue once as a kid and it was kinda okay and that fact still haunts you.

Tanaka:

Listen to rap more than any other genre and ur playlist is fire

Punched dry wall that one time

Probably have several piercings and plan on getting more

Prefer sports bras to regular ones.

Intimidates outsiders but your friends don’t take you seriously in the slightest lmaoaoaooa

Ppl find it hard to approach you but you’re actually super chill so you get sad 

Definition of that Kanye meme “before you talk to me” >:( “after you talk to me” :)

Probably don’t trust people easily

Type of person that once you’re challenged/dared to do something they WILL do it regardless of how stupid bc you hate being called a pussy.

Went through a phase where you only listened to Eminem.

Probably is/was the class clown or wished they were.

You have virtually no patience and a pretty short temper lmao.

You’re a go-getter and hate being told you can’t do something

Definitely snuck out the house several times as a teen.

Walks barefoot outside a lot bc fuck shoes lol

The pairs of shoes you do own are mostly worn down sneakers you refuse to swap out.

You’re that asshole that wears socks with holes in for the sport of it and it doesn’t phase you in the slightest. (dw I do too lmaooao)

Could probably bench press someone’s dad

Enjoy’s drinking coffee.

Kageyama:

Such a picky eater bitch god damn.

Usually hella hydrated and judge people that don’t drink enough water.

Eats spoonfuls of chocolate nesquik powder when no one is looking I said what I said

You like stoic and Tsundere guys who have the outer emotional capacity of a brick wall.

You’re probably the same in that sense and don’t enjoy letting people know what you’re thinking/feeling

Poker face 90% of the time

Type of person to pretend not to find a joke funny but then crumble and start crying with laughter.

Probs an introvert

Once when someone asked you what you wanted for Christmas you responded “to be left the fuck alone” and it still applies to this day.

like fr you just wanna be left alone man but ppl keep bothering you.

You HATE it when people tell you to smile and quite literally take it as an insult.

Your bedtime is 9pm and you stick by it religiously 

Always smell really good like damn what you got on??

The most you do with your hair if it’s long enough is throw it in a pony tail and call it a day.

Either have really nicely manicured nails or you’v chewed them down to the nub no in between.

You hate to admit it but you doubt yourself a lot and it really frustrates you.

Probably wet the bed a lot as a kid and you’re still salty about it.

lololol bed-wetter Kags lover

Audibly snorted typing that I’m sorry.

Probably had a ._. face reading that since ur usually hella unamused.

Cute awkward dork though behind that facade it’s just most people don’t see it.

So critical of yourself like chill

An earth sign or an Aquarius idc.

Do not know how to reciprocate a hug but desperately need one

When people flirt with you you somehow manage to make them intimidated with your responses and scare them off.

You called your teacher “mum/dad” once and you get Vietnam flashbacks to this day.

Daichi:

You probably have a daddy kink and lowkey daddy issues with it

Very supportive friend who has a lotta patience

Hella determined and humble.

Mostly wear black because it’s just much easier than colour coordinating and plus you just prefer the simplicity, but you’re pretty vibrant as a person.

The one who stays sober at parties to drive the others home.

Probably haven’t been in many relationships but still do enjoy romance.

seems stern but is actually very friendly and enjoy company bc you don’t like spending too much time by yourself.

Honestly just wants to chill out, go to bed and read a book.

A coffee connessieur but mostly just drinks instant bc ur too lazy to make it properly and just drink it black.

Very reliable.

Often get stuck with most of the work during group projects lololol

People frequently ask you for the answers to the homework/assignment and it really depends on your mood and how charitable you’re feeling as to whether you’ll lend it to them

Low-key a sadist.

100% Old soul

Despite this you are a fuckin dork and have quite an immature but really funny sense of humour.

You have a thigh kink. 

Def grew up reading wattpad smut and most of ur sexual knowledge stems from that

probably prefer manga to animated versions

Absolute pro at winged eyeliner and looks v good in it.

Probably give lectures even without realising it.

Shamelessly watches the nature channel for hours on end and what of it.

Honestly just done with everyone’s shit lmao

Sugawara:

Either are the mom friend or the one the mom friend has to look after.

You vibe with pastel colours

Your fav season is either spring or autumn.

oversized hoodies and knitted sweaters are your vibe.

Enjoy drinking herbal tea

Likes the smell of rain and will purposely step outside after a storm and S N O R T the smell of damp concrete. (srry if ur from some dry ass place like nevada lmao it rains alot in the UK soooOOOoO)

Quiet but have a really creative imagination and has one HELL of a loud voice when they’re pissed off

like,, I wouldn’t dare get on ur nerves ion want my ear drums bursting damn.

Hoards flavoured chapsticks and scented lip gloss

Either did or still have your Harry Potter house in your bio and it was probably Hufflepuff.

Gives people advice that they are fully aware also applies to themselves but doesn’t follow it LMAO.

Listens to K-pop and several Korean and Japanese genres.

Played a dating sim once and you enjoyed it but ur still ashamed and refuse to ever talk about it.

Smells like lavender or something hella floral

Probably reads a lot of Yaoi and no one else knows but you.

Would 100% own a chinchilla

Read Killing Stalking and it messed you up for weeks.

Asahi:

The one who was trying to flirt for months and the other person never got the hint

Probably a really pretty crier and vibe with the mascara running aesthetic.

You tear up easily lol.

Probably a water sign.

Low-key a bad bitch though 

Looks really good in red lipstick

That one person who’s v attractive but completely unaware and v insecure.

That one friend who seems so soft and innocent but can turn into a banshee when need be.

Crying is your therapy.

You overthink a LOT and it often stops you from achieving what you want.

Actually have a lot of willpower despite ur sensitivity.

Was def a pushover as a kid and still have a chip on your shoulder about it.

Hella artsy and day dreams a lot.

You attract broken souls and often get turned to when people’s problems need fixing yet you’re a total mess yourself

Listens to Girl in red while questioning your sexuality

which you do a lot.

You hate being put in a box or labelled.

Gave up on that hobby that one time and you really wanna get back into it.

Always have at least one hair tie on your wrist that’s basically an accessory at this point.

Own a phat ass fish tank with hella pretty fishes bro it’s such a vibe say hi to Nemo for me.

Yamaguchi:

Too scared to ask for extra ketchup packets so you get your friend to ask instead.

Probably have anxiety.

The time you stuttered once when introducing yourself frequently gives you cringe attacks.

Major animal lover and prefers them to people.

Talked to a tree once and it was a pretty cool experience.

Wear a lot of pink or cute colours and radiate babi energy.

Likely wear skirts 

Wear those aesthetic planets necklaces and your tumblr is filled with space related art and themes.

Enjoy staring up at the clouds and figuring out what animal they are.

Has a lot of secrets that they probably tell to their cat.

dw ur cat isn’t a snitch they got you covered.

“meow”

yeah they definitely didn’t just try to reveal ur deepest traumas to your cousin.

If you don’t have a cat you probably would want one and would call it Mittens or sumn.

You’re whipped for freckles and anyone that has them instantly becomes 1000x more attractive to you

Either like 5′2″ or 5′10″ no middle ground

Definitely own a turtle or rabbit and if you don’t then you should.

Forgets your assignments but the professor lets you off because you’re so nervous they can’t scold you.

Oversleeps at least 2 times a week

Will not get up before 1pm on a weekend

Wall flower at parties but people still approach you bc you are so friendly and kind.

Social anxiety intensifies.

Always get’s called on in class when you haven’t been paying attention and it really troubles you.

Has a minimum of 3 blankets on your bed that you cocoon yourself in.

Tsukishima:

Your attracted to snarky assholes.

Sarcasm and insults are your form of flirtation and you get immediately turned off if they can’t take it or get upset.

Probably shy away from your feelings

Random flashbacks to embarrassing events frequently keep you up at night

Judge peoples fashion choices as they walk past you but actually have a really good eye for what works and what doesn’t.

You look like you have your shit together and you kinda do for the most part.

The quiet kid in class that’s listening to some loud ass screamo or rock n roll’ but ppl have no idea.

Definition of the glinting anime glasses pushed up your nose bridge cliche.

When you make a mistake you question all your knowledge and abilities but no one else knows that about you

Refuses to cry since you view your emotions as a personal weakness

If someone hugged you you’d get VERY uncomfortable.

Physical contact is not your forte

Probably a 5′0″ demon.

Would peg a man to assert dominance but you’re actually a lil bitch.

Knows the answer to the question they can’t solve.

Doesn’t study as much as they should but somehow still gets good grades.

Really likes french fries and the taste of strawberries.

Just wants to be left alone

Ennoshita:

The one friend that gets talked over and it really pisses you off but you’re too nice to say anything.

Seems really passive but can actually be hella confrontational when they wanna be

No tolerance for peoples bullshit 

Really stable and just an overall reliable person.

People often forget you’re in the room lmao but it’s okay you’d rather listen anyway.

Actually has a really interesting mind and a lot to say but mostly keep it to yourself unless they’re your friend

Answered for someone else in attendance a few years ago and it still bothers you.

People often come to you to vent and you’re chill with it

Don’t stand out much but honestly it doesn’t bother you

Can and will get through an entire book/series in a matter of 3 days.

Quite a minimalist and organised for the most part

You look like you have your shit together and you def do.

Have a controversial taste in pizza.

You have more acquaintances than friends but the ones you do are a v tight knit circle.

Will re take a quiz several times till you get the character you wanted

Radiate Virgo and Libra energy.

Kiyoko:

Type of person to say “step on me” as a way of complimenting and you mean it literally.

Both a sadist and masochist

When someone tells you their not interested it just makes you want them 100x more and it frustrates you why are you like this.

Doesn’t compliment often but when you do it’s really heartfelt.

Looks like your silently judging people but in reality you really couldn’t care.

Just kidding you low-key judge them anyway.

Very picky when it comes to partners.

Independent but has random hella clingy moments.

Despite being quiet, you are capable of roasting a bitch alive if they test your patience.

Like I would NOT wanna get on your bad side

You could deadass send them to therapy, their emotions fenna need some aloe vera for that burn.

Just really calm and relaxed tbh so people enjoy being in your company even though you don’t talk much.

When you do though it’s usually something really interesting or funny.

You just don’t see the point in talking if what your saying doesn’t hold any value??

You hate small talk and would rather slingshot yourself off a skyscraper than partake in it.

Your face is easy to read and you make no effort to hide it.

If your in a bad mood they WILL know.

Look like your plotting someones demise or questioning life’s theories but in reality you’re really just thinking bout what you want for dinner.

Honestly just a sweetheart tbh.

Low-key have a staring problem.

Has really neat and cursive handwriting like who tf taught you that.

Yachi:

Frequently says something then panics that it could be misinterpreted 

You overthink literally everything you have ever said and the actions you haven’t even committed yet

Really likes the taste of sherbet 

Could cut a bitch if they needed to

You spend most of your money at Urban Outfitters and don’t regret it.

have an assortment of colouring pencils that ppl always try and borrow and never give them back.

You highlight the shit outta your papers and never read them again.

Really like the smell of peaches

Probably have a v interesting earring collection.

Hoard water bottles in your room and you feel majorly guilty about it.

The taste of honey disgusts you but you eat it anyway for some reason.

Somehow managed to burn rice and solidify soup.

You shouldn’t be trusted in the kitchen but you try your best regardless.

I feel like that applies to most things in your life

Like yeah you fucked it up but like you’re trying your best lol cmon

V tolerant of people but have zero time for fuckboys and shut them down instantly.

You frequently get the shakes from caffeine or anxiety

Or both.

You give really encouraging hugs.

Have no clue what you wanna do in life but it’s ok bby it’ll work out.

Takeda:

You’re a very underappreciated and underrated person and I love u

Probably an English/languages major

Really kind and outgoing but high-key mysterious

Actually has a phat fucking temper like damn where did that come from.

Won’t take no for an answer when you want to achieve something.

That one person people don’t realise is there listening to your conversations but you definitely are and now know Becky’s deepest darkest secret.

Fuck you, becky.

Wore contacts once and forgot to take them out for 3 days.

You wondered why your eyes were so itchy.

Your music taste does not match your appearance.

Probably watch a lot of crime shows and imagine you’re an investigator

Aced physics and chemistry.

More than likely an introvert with extrovert tendencies when you feel like it.

Actually quite temperamental but it’s okay since you’re a v genuine person.

Often debate getting a sugar daddy bc that income looking real tempting rn.

Honest to a fault at times but it’s something people come to appreciate about you.

Just really wanna sleep for 15 hours and sit in front of your laptop with some hot coco.

Ukai:

You like older men

The smell of tobacco and coffee low-key comforts you for some reason.

Peed in a bottle that one time while on a road trip and forgot to throw it out until you found it a week later.

You’re a slut for dyed hair and dudes with piercings.

You once got drunk and passed out on a spinning round-a-bout in a park and your friend still has pictures that you refuse to acknowledge.

Bi-curious and just radiate big Bi energy

Would experiment but you’re too hesitant.

Hates the taste of beer but drinks it anyway.

Just wants to be loved man I stg is that too much to ask.

Often wonder if your friends actually like you then realise you don’t really care anyway lmao.

You still love them though.

Tired of working over time and just wanna catch a break.

Amazon Prime is your best friend.

Random ass parcels comin thru’ each day and it feels like Christmas.

A very lonely and one-man party Christmas.

Stop spending your fucking paycheck.

Have a pretty dark/cynical but really funny sense of humour and you often make people laugh.

Have a big ass temper and people KNOW it.

Often fantasised about dropping out and becoming a stripper bc your patience was being TESTED.

Really likes money but who doesn’t tbh.

You radiate Chaotic Evil but keep it under wraps.

[bumblebee-moreno]

Here For You

Wrote this for @whiskeyslasso​​ hope it helps you feel a bit better!

Jack “Whiskey” Daniels x reader

Summary: Jack is meeting your dad for the first time and it doesn’t go well...

Word count: 1065

Warnings: Emotional abuse, mild language warning, angst (w/comfort at the end)

A/N: Wrote this gender-neutral, but if you want a f!reader version, I’m happy to make one for you! I wrote this based off personal experience so obviously it won’t all apply to everyone.

It had all been going great. Well, as “great” as things can get with your dad. There haven’t been any outbursts about something you said, you haven’t received any verbal criticism about your appearance, only disapproving glances and the occasional raised eyebrow that tells you that you’ll be receiving some very irritated texts later tonight.

But as usual, your dad couldn’t just let the room stay peaceful.

“So, Jack,” he asks, “What’s your favourite thing about y/n?” Oh shit.

“Do I have to choose just one?” Jack smiles. You really shouldn’t have forgotten to warn Jack about this question. “They’re funny, smart, selfless. Y/n’s just got a way about them that makes you wanna smile.”

Your nails are digging into your palms under the table. It’s a wonder they haven’t broken the skin yet. Funny? Smart? Selfless? Why’d you have to date such a loving, well-intentioned man?

Your dad bursts out in laughter. “Damn, you sure we know the same y/n?”

“I beg your pardon?” Poor Jack. He looks so confused. He’s obviously never heard this kind of “joke”.

“Well, if y/n’s so selfless, how come the only person they ever seem to help is them self?”

Jack doesn’t know how to respond to the rigged question, turning to you, with a pleading and vaguely panicked look in his eyes.

“Dad, can we please not do this right now?” you ask quietly, bracing yourself for his response.

“I just asked a simple question, is that not allowed?” Your dad doesn’t wait for an answer. “Jack thinks you’re selfless. I just wanna know why he thinks that. But God forbid me to be curious about your life outside this house.”

“Well for one,” Jack starts, a vague tone of warning not absent in Jack’s voice. “I see y/n helping others more than they help them self. They go so far out of their way to avoid inconveniencing others that they often inconvenience them self.”

“Mhm. And Just wait until you get to know them better.” Your dad smirks as if he’s about to prove the most brilliant point. “Just last week, for example, my car broke down and y/n refused to help me. Guess they had better things to do than help out their father.”

“Dad, I told you already, Jack was in the hospital that day, I had to be there for him,” you defend yourself.

“And look at him, he’s fine!” Jack opens his mouth to argue with your father, but you kick him under the table to shut him up. “Sounds to me like you just wanted me to have to pay for a tow truck.”

“Okay, whatever. I’m not going to argue with you.” There’s no use in arguing.

“Don’t sass me,” he snaps, but allows the conversation to shift… after muttering under his breath, “I give up so much to raise you and all I get is a dead-beat uncaring child?”

“Okay, you know what?” Jack jumps to his feet, having had enough. “I’m done, I’ve listened to enough of this.”

“Jack,” you plead. Not wanting your dad to be resentful towards him, too.

“I’m not sitting here while you talk about y/n like this,” Jack yells.

“Really?” your dad explodes back. “You listen while they sit and abuse me and then take their side?!”

“Y/n isn’t the one being abusive!” Jack takes your hand with a gentle urgency that tells you that you have the freedom to pull free but he really feels strongly about this. “C’mon, sugar, you deserve better than this.” He pulls you out the door.

The whole car ride home, you’re both silent. You, from shock, and Jack from anger.

It isn’t until the front door of your own home closes behind you that the emotions finally settle in and overflow. Tears start spilling down your cheeks.

“Oh darlin’,” Jack’s scowl melts away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have blown up like that,” he pulls you into his chest and slowly sways you back and forth while you sob into his shirt. “I’m so sorry sweetheart,” Jack repeats. “You deserve so much better. You’re perfect just the way you are. You know that?”

“I’m not,” you shake your head, face still buried in his shoulder. You don’t even care that the fabric of his jacket is quickly growing damp with your tears.

“Well, you are.” Jack cups your face between his hands and lifts your gaze to meet his. “You’re so perfect. Don’t you dare change for anyone who refuses to appreciate you for the treasure you are.” Jack plants a brief kiss on your lips, communicating endless amounts of love in a single second. “And you listen here,” he continues. “You take care of yourself first. Even when that means telling someone “no.” You have the right to say no. Anyone who doesn’t respect that doesn’t deserve a place in your life.”

“But—” you protest.

“But nothin’,” Jack stops you. “You deserve all the love in the world, and that doesn’t leave room for people like him.”

“It really hurts to hear him say those things,” you sob.

“I know.” Jack kisses your forehead before pulling you into another embrace.

“I try so hard,” you cry, “and it’s never good enough.”

“I wish I could change it for you,” Jack pulls you closer. “Just know it’s never your fault what he says to you or about you.”

“It feels like it is,” you bury your nose deeper into Jack’s neck.

“I know it must feel like that, but no one, especially not him, has the right to hurt you like that.” Jack’s heart aches. He hates seeing you upset. He hates that he can’t knock some sense into your father. But more than anything, Jack hates that you’re hurting and he doesn’t know how to fix it. “You didn’t do anything to deserve that, sweetheart.”

Jack holds you in silence for a bit longer. Holding you firm in his arms. You wrap yours around him tighter, grasping his shirt into your hands and inhaling as much of his calming scent as you can until you finally feel safe again.

“Is there anything I can do?” Jack rubs gentle circles into your back.

“Just be here for me?” Your voice is muffled from being buried in Jack’s shoulder, but he hears you loud and clear.

“Always, darlin’. I’ll always be here for you. No matter what.”

tag list:@trashbin2​ @fioccodineveautunnale​ @pascalisthepunkest​ @ah-callie​

[jawritter]

I Did It Because I Love You

**Warning** Angst, Dean is an asshole. Some language, unrequited/requited feelings. Injured Raeder. Brief description of injury and SPN level violence. Angry reader. Fluff. I think that’s it.

A/N: Cross-posted on Wattpad! Please don’t copy my stuff!! As always feedback is gold!! All mistakes are mine! Hope you enjoy it! If you would like to be added to my tag list let me know!!

Pairing: Dean x Reader, Sam x Reader. 

Word Count: 2689

Want more? Check out my Masterlist.

************MASTERLIST*************

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It had been a long hunt. You were tired, the boys were tired, everyone was in a grumpy mood. So you sat quietly in the back seat of Baby, knowing better than to open your mouth right now. It wasn't wise to test Dean when he was in a good mood, but when he was tired and annoyed; that was downright stupid.

You could feel his eyes on you occasionally in the rearview mirror. You refused to meet his gaze. Looking out the window, watching the Texas countryside fly by. It was all you could do to make it through this hunt, his comments and constant belittling of you didn't help your state of mind either. You were unfortunately stuck with the Winchesters right now, so you just decided the only way to deal with Dean and his constant ability to be an absolute asshole was just avoid, and ignore him as much as possible.

Two days ago you stopped talking to him completely, and barely even acknowledge him when he gave instructions on hunts. It was literally driving him insane, and you knew it, but you just didn't have the fight in you anymore it took to stand toe to toe with him.

Your mind wandered back to the last fight you had with him the day before you left to go on this hunt with him.

--------------------------------------------

"I know you don't think you're actually going on this hunt, " Dean said, as you descended the stairs into the bunker with your duffle bag over your shoulder.

"Your brother called, said he needed some help with a vamp nest you boys were about to take down in Southeast Texas, asked me to tag along because I was in the area, is that a problem for you Dean?" you asked the eldest Winchester, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes, it is a problem. I don't know why my brother thought we needed you of all people to help take down a simple vamp nest, but we're gonna handle this just fine without you. So you can see yourself out." he said, closing the distance between the two of you, towering over you, trying to use his sheer height advantage to make himself look threatening.

"You need to crawl your little ass back in your car, and find someone else to leech off of sweetheart, we don't need you. Every hunt we have to do with you, I have to step in and save your ass. If I wanted another liability on a hunt, I would have called the Ghostfacers."

You wanted more than anything to knock that cocky smirk right off his face, but you knew Sam would lose his shit if you hit his brother.

"Fuck you, Winchester. I can carry my own damn self. I don't need you to save me, I'm not some damsel in distress..."

Dean jumped in before you could even finish your sentence, almost chest to chest with you now.

"Listen to me bitch, you are a piss poor excuse for a hunter, your reckless, and stupid. You don't think three feet ahead of yourself, and if you had any fucking sense, which you obviously don't, you would walk out that door right now, and go wait tables or some shit, because that's all your really qualified to do."

That stung. You'd been hunting since you were Dean's age, even though he was 10 years older than you. You both got thrown into the life the same way, you both were just kids when your mother's died. Your sister wasn't as lucky as Sammy though.

You opened your mouth to say something, but Dean stepped back and walked off before you could respond.

---------------------------------------

The insults and constant criticism of everything you did from then on got worse and worse as the days passed, and you all worked on the hunt. The vamps nest was bigger than you all had thought, and when you all snuck in during the day, to take them out "easy" according to Dean, while they were sleeping. They weren't in fact "sleeping", but very much awake, and it took all of you everything you had in you to take them all down.

Two of them had you back into a corner, and if it wasn't for Dean, you'd either be dead or in transition right now. It wasn't your fault it happened though, you three had thought you had wiped out the whole nest, and you were walking out behind the boys when two vamps grabbed you and tried to drag you back into the house. Dean and his cat-like reflexes cut both their heads off, but not before they had pulled you down by your hair, and drug you a few feet across the dirty cabin floor, leaving a nasty gash on the back of your leg.

Dean tried to check it before you climbed into Baby, but you refused to look at him or let him touch you. You tie your flannel around your leg tightly to stop the bleeding until you could get to the motel to stitch yourself up, and slammed the car door in his face instead of letting him do anything.

Sam said nothing, just watched the exchange. He had not been thrilled with the way his brother had been treating you this week. Making you sleep on the couch, refusing to share a bed with you while knowing Sam was way too tall to share that little full-sized bed with. Everything that came out of his mouth to you for the past three days was an insult. Even though you just took it, and didn't even speak to him Dean never let up. Sam figured he deserved it, and just smirked getting into the car.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Dean pulled into the parking lot of the rundown dump you were staying at. Getting out of the car you limped toward the front of the hotel where the lobby was located.

"Y/N! What are you doing? Come on let us stitch that up!" Dean yelled after you, but you refused to respond, just kept limping toward the front of the hotel, cursing the guy for putting your room all the way in the back of the hotel when you checked in with the boys.

You could hear Dean coming up behind you, he tried to grab your arm, and you turned on your heels. Before you can control your own actions, anger and hurt won out, and you slapped him hard in the face as you could with your thrown off balance. It was still hard enough to make him stumble backward, which you made a mental note to smirk about later. Right now you were too angry.

Dean looked at you with his hand on the side of his face like a deer caught in the headlights. Which was very funny coming from a big, strong, manly hunter; but you didn't have the strength to laugh right now.

You just turned around and started your trip back to the front of the hotel. This time it was Sam running up behind you. Grabbing you by the shoulders, and turning you around to face him. He was smart enough to keep a hold on you though so you couldn't slap him. You could see Dean standing at the same stop, still looking stunned and holding his face.

"Y/N, where are going?" he said, a look of concern on his face.

"To get my own room. I've had enough of Dean and his shit, I want to put some distance between me and your brother before I kill him in his sleep, Sam."

Sam pulled you into a tight hug, and you felt tears falling down your face that you had held at bay the whole ride back to the hotel. After a few minutes he let you go, Dean still stood at a safe distance watching the two of you.

"Wait here, and I'll go get you a room. Then I'll come and stitch your leg up."

You nodded, not saying anything, wiping your face, and hoping Dean hadn't seen you cry because you knew he'd have something mean to say to you about it.

You hobbled your way over to the bench that wasn't far from where you were standing and sat down to wait for Sam to come back with your room key. When you looked up though it wasn't Sam, but Dean standing over you.

"Y/n... I..."

"Get away from her Dean, she's had enough of you, and I don't blame her," Sam said, coming to your rescue. Helping you get to your feet and he leads you to your room away from Dean.

------------------------------------------------------

Two hours later your leg had been stitched and bandaged, thanks to Sam, and you had showered and gotten into your favorite oversized T-shirt and boy shorts. Not bothering to put sleeping pants on because the boys were staying in another room down the breezeway from you, and were there alone. Plus it hurt to have too much rub against your injured leg.

You were almost dozing off when you heard a knock on your door. Thinking it was Sam bringing you food that he'd promised he'd bring to you, you just yelled "It's open," not bothering to get up to look at who it was.

The door opened slowly, and Dean stuck his head in your room. You rolled over on your side away from the door as he entered and closed the door slowly behind him. A bag of food in one hand, and a bag from what looked like the drug store in the other.

"Hey," he said timidly, placing the stuff on your nightstand in front of you. Childishly, but you were to weak and tired to run with an injury, you rolled over on your other side. Trying to not look at him, and refusing to answer him.

"Y/N, Please... You need to eat, and I brought you something for pain. I know that's gotta hurt."

You laid there facing the wall, not saying anything, and still refusing to look at the handsome hunter. Even though you were hurt deeply, even though you were angrier than you'd ever been in your life, your heart still skips a beat when those beautiful green eyes meet yours.

Right now though, you hate it, you want to be mad. You have every right to be angry. Dean had been nothing but nasty to you the whole time you were on this hunt with the Winchesters from the point that you walked into the bunker. He'd repeatedly ripped your heart out and stomped on it. Now, even though he's devastatingly handsome, even though you have spent nights when you weren't even with the Winchesters dreaming of just laying next to him, your trust was broken along with your heart, and you didn't even know if you were able to forgive him.

"Listen, I know you're angry with me, you have every right to be... I've been a horrible dick to you ever since you stepped foot in the bunker. That was wrong.. I'm an idiot. I was hoping that if I discouraged you from coming with us you wouldn't be put in harm's way. I didn't want to see you hurt, and I thought I was protecting you." 

You felt the bed dip under his weight as he sat down on the bed next to you, and his hand came down on your shoulder, which you instinctively pulled away from. You couldn't see him, but you could have sworn you felt him flinch.

"Y/N, I'm sorry. I don't know what to do to make what I did better. I don't know how to take it all back. If I did I would. You have every right to be mad at me. Please understand that I did it because I'm in love with you, I thought if you stayed away then you wouldn't be hurt like you are right now. When that fucking thing grabbed you it was like looking at my worse nightmare. I can't stand the thought of having to burn your body sweetheart."

You could feel the tears falling down our face now. You couldn't understand what you were hearing. The Dean Winchester just said he loved you... That's impossible... You must have hit your head harder than you thought, and you were hallucinating... But his hand on your shoulder just now felt very real, his bodyweight next to you, sitting on the bed. That was very real...

Turning to face him slowly you saw he looked horrible. He was paler than usual. He looked completely exhausted. You couldn't make your voice work. All those hateful things he'd said to you still ringing in your head. No matter what he was saying, or how tired he looked.

"I'm not expecting you to forgive me right now, fuck I'll be lucky if you ever forgive me at all, but I'm not going anywhere, Sweetheart. I'm going to stay here and make sure your taken care of. I came so fucking close to losing you today. Our lives are short. We probably will never live to see 60. I only probably got 10 years left if I'm lucky."

You laid there staring at his hand on yours. You didn't pull away this time. When you looked up at him again to your surprise he had real tears falling down his God-like face. It made your heart seize up in your chest in spite of you.

"Please Y/N, say something. I can't take the silence anymore. " 

You knew he was telling the truth. The silence was getting pretty cruel at this point.

"I don't know what to say to you, Dean. You really, really hurt me."

You hated how weak your voice sounded. You were a hunter. Right now though you felt like a child.

He sat there with his head down. He looked tired and defeated, just like you felt.

After a few minutes, he got up and nodded his head. Looking like he'd had his heart ripped out and stomped on himself. Heading for the door with his head down.

"Where are you going?" you ask before you could stop yourself.

"You don't want me here," he said, not turning around, talking to his feet. "You got your own room because I've been such an ass, and you wanted to get away from me... I made you hate me."

Sitting up you looked at the man that was so strong he carried everyone, the man that never showed weakness, he looked so weak right now., so done. It made you realize even though he was always trying to carry everyone else's problems, no one ever tried to help him carry his.

Maybe he was wasn't lying just to make you feel better, maybe he was telling the truth.

"Stay," you half-whispered, but he heard you, turning slowly to look at you.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure Dean, stay..."

He had a lot of making up to do, but maybe it was best to start at the beginning. Relationships are a give and take thing. If one of you doesn't give this was never going to work. He just gave. That couldn't have been easy for him. If you were going to not lose this chance you where going to have to take his apology.

Dean came back over to the bed cautiously. Sitting down on the edge before you pulled the covers up, signaling him to slip underneath with you. Which he did slowly.

"You know it's going to take me a very long time to fully forgive you, Dean," you tell him as you snuggle into his side. His strong arms wrapping around you immediately, pulling you into him.

"I know, I'm so, so, so sorry."

Putting your hand over his chest where you could feel his heart beating you take a deep breath. Breathing in a scent that was uniquely Dean. Gunpowder, whiskey, and his cologne.

Things weren't going to be easy for the two of you, but you had to start somewhere, and here in his arms felt like a pretty good place.

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Tag List:

@deanwanddamons​  @imabitch4jensen​  @rvgrsbrns​  @bi-danvers0​

[gh0stwriting]

Hello hon, I was wondering if you could do some HC’s with slashers who have an s/o that works a hard job, so one day they come home just pissed and not in the mood dealing with anyones shit? Like the slashers reaction to their normally sweet and calm s/o honesty about to just fight anything? Thank you!

(yall are so nice to me wtf, greeting me, giving me free reign for slashers and saying please/thank you? yall are too much)

GHOSTFACE

you currently work in a record shop, picking up the job as you thought it would be easy cash. oh how you were wrong. in the month leading up to Lollapalooza you got crowds of people pouring in to buy a mix of cassettes and cds for the performing acts, though there are so many you cant remember even half of them.

youve caught people trying to steal albums, trying to hit on you, criticizing your taste in music and just flat out insulting you, and though your shift was barely half over you were already exhausted, your legs going numb from having to stand behind the register for hours.

when it came to your lunch break you told your manager that you felt really sick and had to leave as you just couldnt handle any of the chaos anymore. you walked in the front door of Stu’s house and were tackled into a hug by none other than Stu, saying something about how happy he was that you were home.

though you were having none of it, you pushed him off of you, kicked off your shoes and shuffled to the living room where you unceremoniously flopped onto the couch and just stayed there, not moving and just wishing the couch would swallow you whole so you could escape this mortal realm.

many times did the boys try to give you affection or cheer you up, Billy walks up behind you to kiss you on the cheek, to which you wipe it off and push his hair off of your face, telling him to go away and that you werent in the mood. another time Stu tried to sit on the floor in front of you and talk and after the silent treatment and death glare you told him why you were so pissed and after a pouty face from Stu and some persuasion from Billy you agreed to let them cuddle you, but no kisses, only cuddles.

BRAHMS HEELSHIRE

you worked as one of santas elves around christmas time, it seemed fun and relatively easy. and then after a week you were wishing for so many things to happento you so you didnt have to work that it kind of lost its appeal.

Brahms only let you leave because you pinky promised him youd come back, but he starts to regret his decision when you storm inside with your eyes full of tears. he goes to greet you and you swerve to avoid him and head up the massive staircase to the bathroom, him following you, still trying to talk.

youre about to get into the shower when you see a flash of him in the mirror and lose it. “get the fuck out Brahms. i love you but i cant deal with this shit right now, ive been bitten, spit on, puked on and probably pissed on by little kids and i just need to shower and probably cry.”

he sulks a little but refuses to leave before kissing your forehead and declaring his ever-growing, neverending love for you. yknow, like a sap. now you feel bad for being mean.

once youve sufficently scrubbed off any trace of work you go to your room and lay down, calling out for your boyfriend. he almost immediately appears at the door and you tap the spot in front of you, him giggling quietly as he lays down with you and you vent about how stupid kids are and how you cant wait for holiday season to be over.

BUBBA SAWYER

its not the hardest job in the world, but you work at Bath & Body Works and the difficulty of the job is heavily outweighed by the amount of Karens who walk in saying things like “oh i called to hold these items” while referring to items that werent in stock or “im going to call your district manager” about a problem that was out of your hands

the hours couldnt tick down fast enough, youve had enough yelling, swearing and bad fake tans to last you a lifetime but sadly you couldnt leave early as your pay would get cut and you need the money.

finally after an eternity your shift ends and youre almost surprised you dont get pulled over with how quickly you drive home, your mood dropping on the way as you remember all the times you couldnt defend yourself and had to let people scream in your face about how youre a terrible employee.

you walk in quietly and go straight to your room and just lay down facing the window, not doing much of anything. you vaguely hear someone call your name but dont respond as you know its obviously not Bubba, so it can wait. Drayton storms in, getting in your face and screaming about how you need to listen when he calls for you and you snap.

you stand up and scream back about how you dont need to listen to him, how he shouldnt abuse Bubba the way he does, and how he just generally needs to fuck off. Bubba watches from the doorway, having ran over from the shouting and just watches in shock, youre usually like him, getting pushed around by Drayton and rarely defending yourself.

Drayton pushes him out of the way to make a dramatic exit and Bubba comes up to you, babbling in a inquisitive manner. you just mutter something about telling him later and hug him like hes the last thing keeping you sane and letting out all of your emotions from the day in the form of tears.

[fandomrewrites]

Chasing Butterflies: Murphy’s Law

Hello all! I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always constructive criticism is appreciated. Make sure to let me know if you want to be added to any of my taglists! 

Season 1; Episode 4: Murphy’s Law Pairings: OC x OC best friends, no love interests chosen yet Warnings: Mentions of death/murder, nightmares Word Count: 3,292

Season 1 Masterlist

Nova, Elara, and Clarke stood just outside the camp walls. They were silently standing by the delinquents graves, mourning Wells who was found dead just a few days prior. 

"They got Wells just outside the wall." A voice calls from behind them.

The three friends turn to see Finn walking towards them, "Let them come. I'll kill them all." Nova states, glancing one last time at the grave then turning on her heel to walk into the camp.

Elara sighs then follows her, leaving Finn and Clarke alone. "Nov, wait up." She calls after the girl.

Nova stops and waits for her but doesn't turn around, "Are you alright?" Elara asks.

Nova looks at Elara, "I'm pissed off Lara. One of our best friends just got murdered by grounders. And I will do whatever it takes to get justice."

"That's not justice, it's revenge. And it's not healthy." Elara retorts.

Nova scoffs and shakes her head, "Call it what you want but the truth of the matter is that the grounders are going to kill more unless we do something about it. I'm going to start training people one on one. I suggest you start practicing with that bow I gave you."

Without waiting for Elara to reply Nova marches off to find someone to train. "Fox!" Nova calls out.

The girl turns to look at her with wide eyes, "You're with me." Fox, terrified, looks at the people she was helping. They shrug helplessly as they hear Nova call out once more, "Today."

Fox quickly moves to walk beside the petite girl, "What are we doing?" She asks.

"Training. We need to know how to protect ourselves and I promised everyone I would start training you guys. I figured I would start with you."

"O-Okay." She stutters. 

"Pick up a knife. We'll start with knife throwing. How to hold it correctly and all of that." Fox nods and does as she's told. 

As Nova begins her lesson, Elara is just outside the camp walls practicing with her bow and arrow like Nova said. Despite not wanting to have to use it she knows Nova is right. They need to know how to protect themselves in case the grounders attack.

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 After about fifteen minutes of practicing Elara hears Octavia calling her name, "Elara! You may want to come here." 

She turns around and sees the panicked look on the girls face. She hurriedly collects her arrows and rushes over to Octavia who brings her into a tent which has Jasper, Clarke, and Bellamy.

Elara looks around, "Where's Nova?"

"I don't think we should tell her. She can be a little... Intense." Jasper says, looking at Octavia.

Octavia sighs but before she can respond Bellamy does, "Whatever it is that you need to tell us she should know. She's one of the leaders here. She'll be even more pissed if we leave her out of the loop."

Octavia nods then leaves the tent to find Nova. She returns a minute later with Nova trailing behind, "What's this about?" She asks.

Jasper reaches into his pocket, he pulls out two fingers and a knife built from the dropship. "We found this knife and Wells's fingers not too far from where he died."

"This knife was made of metal from the dropship." Clarke says reaching for the knife. "Who else knows about this?" She asks Octavia and Jasper.

"No one. We brought it straight here." Octavia replies.

"Someone in camp murdered Wells. It wasn't a grounder." Elara says, mouth dropping open.

"We need to keep this quiet." Bellamy states. He looks at Nova for back up as Clarke tries to exit the tent. Nova stays silent, letting the words sink in. "Clarke, be smart about this. Like it or not, thinking the grounders killed Wells is good for us."

"Oh, good for you, you mean." Clarke starts to argue.

Elara interrupts, "He's right. We don't even know whose knife it is."

"Oh really? J.M. John Murphy. The people have a right to know."

"John Mbege has the same initials, Clarke. And just because it's his knife doesn't mean he killed him. Someone could have taken his knife to frame him. It's what I would have done." Nova states.

"Are you seriously trying to stick up for him? After you wanted to kill all of the grounders for something you thought they did?" Clarke snaps.

"I'm not sticking up for anyone. All I'm saying is we don't have all the answers. If we are going to confront Murphy we need to do it quietly. All this is going to cause is panic."

Clarke scoffs and shoves her way past Bellamy. "You son of a bitch!" She exclaims, pushing Murphy.

"What's your problem?" He asks.

"Recognize this?" Clarke questions, holding up the knife.

The others are now out of the tent, watching as the delinquents start crowding around to watch Clarke and Murphy's interaction.

"It's my knife. Where'd you find it?"

"Where you dropped it after you killed Wells."

"The grounders killed Wells, not me." He turns away from the blonde to look at Bellamy, "Do you really believe this?"

"You threatened to kill him. We all heard you. You hated Wells."

"Plenty of people hated Wells. His father was the Chancellor that locked us up."

"Yeah, but you're the only one who got in a knife fight with him."

"Yeah, and I didn't kill him then either."

Nova loudly scoffs, "Like you had a chance. If I recall he had the knife to your throat. You probably took him by surprise to actually get him."

"He tried to kill Jasper too!" Octavia calls out. This causes Jasper's eyes to widen in horror.

Murphy tries to deny the accusation again, "Come on. This is ridiculous. I don't have to answer to you or anyone."

"Excuse me?" Nova narrows her eyes at the boy.

At the same time Bellamy raises an eyebrow, "Come again?"

Murphy looks to Bellamy for help, "I'm telling you, man. I didn't do it."

"They found his fingers on the ground with your knife." Bellamy replies.

Clarke turns her attention to the surrounding delinquents, "Is this the kind of society that we want? You say there should be no rules. Does that mean that we can kill each other without punishment?"

"I say we float him!" Connor calls out from the crowd. A chorus of "Yeahs" can be heard from the group.

"That's not what I'm saying." Clarke yells, trying to be heard above the delinquents.

"Why not? He deserves to float. It's justice." Connor yells once more.

"It's not justice! It's revenge!" Elara calls, glancing at Nova who sits back with narrowed eyes and her arms crossed across her chest.

"It's justice!" Connor yells again. Connor, Myles, Derek, and some other delinquents move in to attack Murphy. They punch and kick him making the boy fall to the ground. They grab rope to tie his hands behind his back then drag him outside the camp walls to a tree.

Clarke and Elara chase after the delinquents yelling at them to stop and leave Murphy alone. The delinquents grab a hold of the two girls, making sure they stay back as Connor throws a noose around Murphy's neck and Derek ties the other end to a high branch on the tree.

Myles gets him to stand on top of a log, when everything is ready Connor yells once more, "Bellamy should do it!"

The crowd of delinquents start chanting Bellamy's name, "Bellamy, you can stop this!" Clarke calls out, tears in her eyes.

"Nov do something! Help Murphy." Elara yells at her friend. Nova bites her lips but refuses to look at Elara. Instead her eyes stay locked on Bellamy who turns his attention to her.

He waits for her to say something, anything. Nova gives a slight tilt of her head indicating that he should do it. So Bellamy walks over to Murphy and kicks the log out from under him.

"How could you!" Clarke calls out.

"This is on you princess. You should've kept your mouth shut." Bellamy exclaims.

"What the hell are you doing?" Finn shouts, just walking back to the camp and seeing Murphy hanging from the tree. "Cut him down!" The group holds him back. 

Finally, a small voice yells out, "Stop! Okay?" The group turns to see Charlotte, crying. "Murphy didn't kill Wells! I did!"

Finn and Elara shove their way to the front to cut Murphy down, this time nobody stops them.

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 "Bring the girl out, Bellamy!" Murphy calls from outside the tent.

Choosing to ignore Murphy and his gang, Bellamy eyes the young girl, "Why Charlotte?"

"I was just trying to slay my demons, like you told me."

Nova scoffs and shakes her head, "Maybe I should have told her my story then, huh?" She looks at Bellamy, eyes burning with hatred.

Bellamy shakes his head and focuses back on Charlotte, "That's not what I meant."

"Bring the girl out now!" Murphy calls again.

"Please don't let them hurt me!" Charlotte says, beginning to cry once more.

Nova rolls her eyes, "Let's just kill her." Clarke, Finn, Bellamy, and Elara all turn to glare at Nova as Charlotte backs away into Elara's side. 

"What the hell is wrong with you Nov?" Elara scolds.

"What? She may be the youngest one here but she's old enough to know right from wrong. We almost hanged Murphy for a crime he didn't commit. All I'm saying is the right person should get punished. And Murphy and his gang aren't going to stop until she's dead. The least we can do is deal with her ourselves and kill her humanely and in private rather than letting Murphy do it."

"We are not killing her." Bellamy glares. 

Nova rolls her eyes then holds up her hands, "Fine. Whatever. But don't come crying to me when this goes horribly wrong."

Nova pushes by the group, leaving the tent to let them discuss what they are going to do with Charlotte. As the flap of the tent shuts behind Nova, Bellamy turns to the others, "If you guys have any bright ideas, speak up."

"Those are your boys out there." Finn reminds him.

"This is not my fault. If she had listened to me, those idiots would still be building the wall."

As Nova steps out of the tent she looks right at Murphy as he asks, "Where's the girl, Angel?"

Nova rolls her eyes at the nickname, "Don't try to patronize me. I said we should kill her. They didn't agree. I'm letting them decide since I was outnumbered."

Murphy looks slightly shocked at her words but quickly recovers as he yells out once more, "You want to build a society, princess? Let's build a society. Bring her out."

Bellamy finally emerges from the tent prompting Murphy to speak once more, "Well, well, well. Look who decided to join us."

"Dial it down and back off." Bellamy scolds.

"Or what? What are you gonna do about me? Hang me?"

"That could be arranged." Nova mutters.

"I thought you were on my side, angel." Murphy says, looking at Nova.

She rolls her eyes once more, "I still think you're an ass and you deserve to die. Just not for this crime."

Bellamy calls out to Murphy, "I was just giving the people what they wanted."

"You know what? That's a great idea. Who wants the real murdered to be hanged for her crime?" Murphy asks, addressing the crowd of delinquents. Murphy, his crew, and Nova are the only people who raise their hands. "So it's okay to string me up for nothing, but when this little bitch confesses, you all let her walk? Cowards!"

"Hey, Murphy! It's over." Bellamy states.

"Whatever you say boss." Murphy waits for Bellamy to turn around. Then he quickly grabs a piece of wood from the ground and hits Bellamy over the head with, running into the tent. Murphy sees that Charlotte and the others are no longer there and gestures for his gang to follow him, "Come on. Let's get the girl!"

Nova watches as the group leaves. She makes her way over to Bellamy to check his head. "Miller, Connor! Bring him to his tent. Everyone else back to work. Let me know when he wakes up."

She watches as everyone moves to start working on the camp once more. Her eyes search for someone to start training, "Harper! You're with me."

She waits for the girl to follow her so that she can start training her on how to use a spear properly. She takes her time teaching her, waiting for Bellamy to wake up so they can go after Murphy and his gang.

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 Elara, Clarke, and Finn snuck Charlotte outside the camp when Bellamy left the tent to deal with Murphy. Elara kept a tight hold on Charlotte's hand as Finn and Clarke walked a little bit ahead.

"It's going to be night soon, Finn. Where are we going?" Clarke asks. When the boy doesn't answer right away she speaks once more, "At least tell me you have a plan and we're not just wandering aimlessly through the woods."

"I have a plan." Finn answers.

Charlotte moves to grab Clarke's hand which ends up with the blonde yelling at the little girl, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Just because we saved you doesn't mean you're forgiven. Got it?"

"Clarke. Knock it off!" Elara scolds, making sure to hold on to Charlotte.

"She's just a kid." Finn continues.

"She's a killer." Clarke retorts, she turns to look Charlotte in the eye, "You killed someone, Charlotte. Ended his life. Did you think about that for even one second."

"Enough!" Elara scolds once more, "He was one of my best friends too. I'm pissed off too. But Charlotte knows what she did was wrong. Yelling at her isn't going to bring him back."

"Charlotte! Elara, Clarke, and Finn can't save you." Murphy yells through the trees. 

"We should run." Clarke states.

"Yeah. That's one way to go. I like my plan better." Finn says, reaching down and opening a hidden door. "Get in." He smiles.

Elara gently pushes Charlotte inside. She follows closely behind, Finn and Clarke behind her. 

"Finn, what is this place?" Clarke asks.

"For now, it's home."

Elara sat down next to Charlotte on the bottom bunk. She tucked the young girl in and moved to stand up. "Can you tell me a story?" Charlotte asked.

Elara hesitates, "I only know one."

"That's fine. Please?"

Elara nodded and began the story of Robin Hood, "It was a quiet night in Sherwood village. Yet someone was creeping through the dark..."

As she finished up the story she saw that the young girl was fast asleep. She stood up and looked at Clarke and Finn who were having a whispered conversation. She stretched her limbs then climbed up to the top bunk to take a quick nap.

 *_*_*_*_*_*

 "Elara! Elara wake up!" Clarke shakes Elara awake.

"What? What happened?" Elara sits up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Charlotte is gone. We need to go." This statement makes Elara shoot out of the bed. They all quickly make their way out of the bunker in search of the young delinquent.

Meanwhile, Bellamy and Nova are also in pursuit of Charlotte. "I don't understand why you're helping me now? What made you change your mind about killing Charlotte?" Bellamy asks Nova.

"Honestly, I still think it would be easier to just kill her. But I also understand why we shouldn't. Plus I'll do anything that goes against what Murphy wants." Nova states.

In the distance the pair hears Murphy yell, "Charlotte! You can't hide forever. Don't worry. We won't hurt you."

Bellamy and Nova exchange a look, just as they see Charlotte running towards them. They each hide behind a tree and when Charlotte passes, Bellamy grabs her. "Let me go!" The young girl yells.

"We're trying to help!" Bellamy says to her.

"I'm not your sister! Just stop helping me! I'm over here!" She calls out, gaining Murphy's attention.

"Shut the fuck up! Are you trying to get us killed?" Nova scolds the delinquent.

"Just go. I'm the one they want."

"We are not leaving you." Bellamy says. Bellamy picks up the young girl as she starts yelling for Murphy once again. Nova and Bellamy run away from the footsteps that are closing in.

In another part of the forest Clarke, Finn, and Elara hear Charlotte's scream. "Murphy has her." Clarke says, taking off to find the group. Finn and Elara follow close behind, also determined to find Charlotte and make sure she's safe.

Bellamy and Nova only stop when they come to a cliff and have nowhere else to run. "Bellamy, Nova. You can't fight us all."

"Is that a challenge, troll?" Nova spits out. Her knife is held tightly in her hand and she takes a protective step in front of Bellamy and Charlotte.

"Didn't you want her dead too, angel?" Murphy asks, tilting his head at the petite girl in question.

"Yeah, but I'll protect her if it means I get to go against you. And trust me when I say you can't beat me."

Suddenly Clarke, Elara, and Finn make their way into the clearing. "Stop, this has gone too far!" Clarke says.

"Everyone needs to calm down. We can talk about this." Elara continues.

"I'm sick of listening to you talk." Murphy says, grabbing Elara and putting his knife to her throat.

"You hurt her and I'll kill you faster than you can blink, troll." Nova instantly says.

"I will slit her throat." Murphy replies.

"No, please. Please don't hurt her." Charlotte cries out.

"Don't hurt her? Okay, I'll make you a deal. You come with me right now, I will let her go."

Bellamy grabs Charlotte's arm as she starts to move forward. "Don't do it Charlotte."

Charlotte stops moving forward. "No, I have to. Murphy, this is not happening. I can't let any of you get hurt anymore. Not because of me. Not after what I did."

Without saying anything else, she walks to the edge of the cliff and jumps off, not giving any of the older delinquents around her the chance to stop her. 

"Charlotte!" Clarke and Elara scream after the girl, but they both know there is nothing they can do. 

Bellamy on the other hand moved past Nova and started throwing punches at Murphy. "Bellamy no! You'll kill him!" Clarke grabs Bellamy's arm to stop him.

"He deserves to die!" Bellamy grunts out. 

"We don't decide who lives and dies. Not down here." Clarke says.

"So help me God, if you say the people have a right to decide."

Clarke cuts him off, "No, I was wrong before. You were right. Sometimes it's dangerous to tell people the truth. But if we're going to survive down here, we can't just live by whatever the hell we want. We need rules."

"And who is going to make the rules? You?"

"No. Us. Together." Elara speaks up.

"Well he's not coming back to camp with us. Because if you even think that's a good idea I'm killing him myself." Nova says, gesturing to Murphy who is bloody and on the ground.

"We banish him." Clarke says.

Bellamy looks at the other four delinquents that are part of Murphy's gang, "The four of you can either come back and follow me or go off with him to die. Your choice."

The delinquents all turn away from Murphy, leaving him on his own in the forest.

[acedesigns]

Triage [FF7: Rufus/Reader]

A/N: This is based more on the events in the original FF7 and NOT Remake! The guard dog with Rufus is named Dark Nation in the original game and can be killed. Dark Star is in Remake~

Word Count:  1730

--

Right when you clicked the button to clock out, the doors burst open. A man was covered in blood. Some of it looked like it was his own, but most of it looked like the guard dog in his arms. Your hands shot over towards the phone.

“Triage: code red. Gurney needed!” you exclaimed over the intercom and slammed the phone back down.

You ran through the doors separating you from the front desk and the rest of the lobby. You were about to try and take the guard dog away from the man when the vet techs burst through rolling a table. The dog was placed on the gurney and quickly rolled back towards treatment.

“Sir, let me get some information from you,” you stated and leaned over the counter to grab a clipboard. “We’ll go to room 2 to wait.” You quickly led him away from the lobby that had large puddles of blood.

You opened the door to an examination room and had him sit on the bench. He silently took the clipboard and pen from you. With one glance, you noticed he was indeed bleeding. Large lacerations covered different parts of his body.

“Shit. I’ll be right back with a first-aid kit,” you shouted as you ran out of the room. You nearly slammed into the door leading behind the front desk. Quickly, you opened a cabinet and grabbed the first-aid kit. You sprinted back, avoiding the puddles of blood.

“I’m sorry for the wait,” you gasped out and placed the first-aid kit on the examination table. You quickly washed your hands at the sink and then slipped on a pair of surgical gloves. “My name is [Y/N], I’m certified in first-aid. It looks like you have several lacerations, can I treat you until you can get better care?”

The man was silent as stared down at the form. There were some bits and pieces of information, but his hand was shaking. He couldn’t make anything he was writing to appear legible.

“Sir?” you asked softly and approached. “I can fill that out for you. But first, you need to get your wounds treated.” There was more silence. Slowly, you approached him and knelt down so you could look up into his eyes. “Sir, can you hear me?” Your mind was racing, thinking that he could possibly be in shock.

“Yes,” he stated in a soft tone. “I can hear you.”

“Okay, can I treat you?”

“Fill out the form first.”

“But—”

“You do not have my consent until that form is filled out and given to whoever needs it.”

You hesitated, but nodded and grabbed the pen. “Okay. What is your name?”

“Rufus Shinra.”

You blinked and looked away from the form and back at the man. He did look like the president. But no one has really seen Rufus for a few years while he was away on a business trip. Shaking your head, you continued to collect information on him and his guard dog.

“Dark Nation,” he stated when you asked for the name. Though, his voice broke ever so slightly when he gave more information on him.

“What happened to him?” you asked just above a whisper, not wanting to further upset the man that was struggling to keep it together.

“A fight ensued between us and an individual from the terrorist group, Avalanche.”

“My god,” you whispered. “Alright, the form is filled out. I’ll just take your signature to consent to treat and our critical care with CPR.” You handed him the form which he quickly signed. “I’m going to run this back and then I’ll be back to patch you up, okay?” He didn’t respond, just looked down at his hands that were covered in Dark Nation’s blood. “Do you want me to grab you some water or tea or something?” He shook his head.

Taking a deep breath, you quickly left and swiped your card to get into the treatment area. A vet and a tech were already in surgical garments. They glanced over to you and nodded their heads in approval when you flipped through the forms to show them that they could continue.

You walked away from the surgical area and towards the back with foods and medications. There was a wire shelf that held dozens of blankets. Most of the time, they were for euthanasia clients to help comfort them and the animal. But now, you figured that the man who no one has ever seen cry or bleed, the man who was starting to break down could use one.

“Alright,” you announced your entrance into the examination table. “They’re working on Dark Nation right now.” You walked over to the man and placed the blanket next to him. “Now, can I patch you up?”

Rufus didn’t meet your eyes. He only nodded his head numbly. Taking a deep breath, you disposed of the gloves you were wearing, washed your hands again, and put on a fresh pair of gloves. It was a waste, but the risk of infection was too great.

You quickly opened up the first-aid kit and grabbed disinfectant, butterfly bandages, gauze, and wraps. While you were organizing everything, you asked him the necessary questions: was he allergic to anything, what medications was he taking, what his medical history was, when did he last eat or drink, and what were his injuries? You started to work on the cut on arm. It was the one bleeding the most. Though, you had to help get his coat off and used scissors to cut off the sleeve.

“You’ll probably need stitches,” you muttered more to yourself than him. You grabbed the disinfectant. “This might sting a little, sorry.” You poured some of the disinfectant on a thing of gauze and gently dabbed at the wound. It bubbled ever so slightly, but Rufus didn’t even flinch. Taking a fresh thing of gauze, you held it firmly against the wound with one hand and awkwardly wrapped it.

“I’ll apply butterfly bandages in a little bit, but I’m going to work on your other wounds while the bleeding slows.” You were met with silence. You looked at his face. He was biting his lip tightly. So much so that it was starting to bleed.

“Hey, hey,” you whispered and took a hold of his shoulders. “Don’t hurt yourself more. We have some very skilled vets here that will do everything they can for Dark Nation, okay?”

“My father died tonight.” You looked up at him with alarm, but he continued. “My mother’s been dead. Same with my older half-brother. Why would this be any different?”

Taking a deep breath, you grabbed another gauze of disinfectant and started to work on a cut above his eyebrow. “I don’t know if this will be any different,” you stated honestly. “But I’ve seen some animals come back from a lot worse.” You moved some hair out of his face. “It might not be much, but I’ll stay here with you, okay? I’ll help you get through this.”

He was silent once more, but his lip wasn’t being abused. You continued to clean and dress his wounds. He’d need to see a doctor, but he would refuse to leave the veterinary hospital. The wounds would scar, but he’d live. There was also the matter of the blood from Dark Nation that you had to clean up. You did your best to get it off of his skin, but his white suit was stained.

“All done,” you whispered and went to take off your gloves and wash your hands. You moved back over to him and draped the blanket around his shoulders. With a sigh, you sat next to him.

After a moment or two, he finally spoke. “Don’t you have other work that needs to be done?” He was quiet. It was almost as though if he spoke any louder, he’d break down into tears.

“I clocked out just before you came in.” You closed your eyes and listened to the clock ticking. It was a ten-hour shift that you clocked out of, so you were exhausted. But now it was nearing eleven hours that you were at work. With what was going on, you’d probably be here for a couple more.

“Thank you.”

You looked over to the man. His hands were shaking again. Hesitantly, you took a hold of his hand and gave it a squeeze. He turned his hand over and returned the gesture.

A knock on the door caused him to quickly pull his hand away. You looked up seeing the vet come in. She held a clipboard and was free of the surgical gown she was wearing a while ago.

“How’s it go--? [Y/N]? Shouldn’t you be home?”

“It’s fine. I clocked out. He’s a friend, so I’m just staying here to make sure he’s okay.”

“If you say so.” She eyed you with suspicion. “Anyways, we believe Dark Nation is currently stable. We did, however, had to do a blood transfusion. With the amount of blood he lost, we want to keep him on a twenty-four-hour hold to keep an eye on his condition. We also want to place him on antibiotics with how many cuts he had and possible exposure. He’ll also do better if he’s on pain medication for a while. We’ll need about three weeks before his stitches can be removed, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on them.”

“That’s fine.”

“Alright, I’ll just have you sign here and we’ll need to collect the low-end estimate as a deposit. You’ll be good to go after that. We’ll call you with updates. If you have any questions, you can always call us, too.”

Rufus pulled out a card and signed a consent form. Though his signature wasn’t too legible, it was more than his earlier one. The vet left with the card to run the charge and quickly returned. With a brief farewell, she was gone.

You were about to stand form the bench to go home, but froze when you heard his breath stutter. Glancing over, you saw his face was in his hands. A clear drop fell from a gap between his fingers. With a soft smile, you turned your body towards him and pulled him into a hug.

“Thank you,” he whispered and continued to quietly weep.

[flipomatic]

Shortcuts Chapter 12

Author Note: Time to focus.

First Chapter Previous Chapter

____________________________________________

Emira didn’t get much sleep that night; her mind was too restless to relax. Whenever she managed to calm it, she would hear Viney’s words in her head again. She would remember how she harmed Viney, how much her rejection hurt. She’d remember the sound of her voice, telling her to leave.

Despite barely sleeping and feeling like she’d been attacked by a slitherbeast, Emira still got up at the usual time to go to school. She wanted to find Viney before class and talk to her, though she wasn’t sure if Viney would be willing to listen. She probably wouldn’t, but Emira still wanted to try.

After walking to school, trying not to yawn while she did, Emira swapped the library books for her school textbooks at her locker. Then, since she had plenty of time until class would start, she walked around to see if she could find Viney.

As she passed through the wing of the school where Viney’s locker was, Emira didn’t see her. It was still early though. Emira kept walking, looking in another set of hallways without success. Maybe Viney had stayed home, or hadn’t arrived at school yet?

Those guesses turned out to be incorrect. Emira passed by Viney’s locker one more time on her way to class. This time the other teen was there, putting something in her locker. Emira’s heart squeezed painfully at the sight of her, bringing back all of the feelings she dwelt on the night before.

“Viney.” Emira called out her name as she approached. Viney tightened her grip on the book she was putting in her bag, but otherwise didn’t react.

Emira stopped to Viney’s right, trying to look at her face. Now that she was closer, Emira could see that she was scowling, her whole body tense. Her hair, which was usually in some state of disorder, was even more disheveled than usual. “I need to apologize, for ev-“

“Don’t talk to me.” Viney cut her off, still not looking at her. Her voice was slightly hoarse, sounding strained. She closed her locker and turned away from Emira, starting to walk away without another word.

Emira mustered her courage and trailed after her. “Please, let me explain.” She tried again, keeping her voice down to not attract the attention of bystanders.

Viney spun on her heel, finally looking at Emira. Her eyes were red, like she’d been crying recently. “I said, leave me alone.” She didn’t way for a reply, turning to again walk down the hallway.

This time Emira let her go. It was a familiar feeling, being rejected like this. It was one of the first things Viney did when they met. That didn’t make it hurt any less.

Already feeling drained, Emira went to class; there was no reason to stay in the hallway any longer that morning. When class started she tried to focus, but it was hard to do. She couldn’t stop thinking about what had been lost, how things could never go back to how they were.

If Viney refused to listen, there wasn’t anything she could do. Maybe she would just have to accept it, accept that their friendship was over.

At least for now, she had no choice.

______________________________________________

A little over a week had passed since the incident. Emira spent that week alternating between moping and trying to convince herself to snap out of it. Moping was winning. Even playing pranks would only improve her mood for a short while.

She hadn’t tried to talk to Viney again in that time, though she wasn’t sure how long she should wait before trying again.

The closest she got to Viney was walking past her in the hallway. At the time, Viney had been talking with her multi track friends. Viney had her back to Emira so she didn’t see Emira pass by, but the teen boy and dog both did. If looks could kill, Emira would’ve died twice.

It was Friday, the last day of the school week. Emira was going to try one more time, give herself one last chance to apologize and make things right. If it didn’t work, at least she’d have the weekend to start trying to figure out how to move on.

She suspected that Viney would stay after school to work on her healing spell, as she had for the last month. She would probably be in the usual healing track room, still translating the same book. She’d be trying to find a replacement for the spell Emira had used to enhance her healing spell. Emira tried not to dwell on that when she went there after school.

From outside the door, she couldn’t tell if Viney was inside. The window was too small to see the part of the room Viney liked to sit in. Emira knew this, but she tried to look in anyway.

As expected, she couldn’t see if Viney was there. She would have to go in to find out.

Emira took a deep breath, then entered the room. Viney was sitting with her books, in the same spot as usual. Her eyes flicked up towards the sound of the opening door, but immediately went back down when she saw who it was. She looked irritated as she wrote in her notes, a deep frown on her face.

Emira approached her slowly, not wanting to startle her. “Hey,” Emira said. Viney didn’t respond, but she did stop writing, pressing her pen harder against the paper. “I know you don’t want to talk to me.” Emira said as she reached the table Viney was at. She stood in front of her, with only the table and books between them. “But I need to talk to you.” She paused, giving Viney a chance to say something.

Viney didn’t move, didn’t speak. She also didn’t get up to leave, which was a plus. Emira took a chair from the next row of tables and turned it so she could sit down. Viney still didn’t look at her.

Emira cleared her throat, and then continued. “I know you might not forgive me, and I understand why. If you don’t want to, you won’t have to see me again.” She took a deep breath. “I hurt you, and I’m sorry. I never wanted to, but I did.” Emira tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke, which was difficult to achieve. She had been waiting to say these things all week, but that didn’t stop the pangs of pain in her heart as she spoke. “Yes, at first I was only thinking about the passages, but my feelings changed. I had so much fun getting to know you, being your friend.” Her voice was shaking now, wavering despite her best efforts. “The passages don’t matter, only you.”

This finally drew a reaction from Viney. She looked up slowly, still holding her pen against the paper. She locked eyes with Emira, her gaze clear. She was still frowning, with gritted teeth. “Then why did your brother say they did?” Viney asked, her words firm.

“I…” Emira’s voice trailed off after the first word, trying to figure out how to say it. This was a question she’d asked herself over the last week, why hadn’t she just told him the truth? This whole situation could’ve been averted if she had. She was starting to figure it out though, no more holding back. “It was easier to lie to him.” Emira admitted, bringing her hands together on the table.

Viney scoffed, putting down her pen and crossing her arms. “That doesn’t make any sense. Aren’t you twins?”

“Yeah but,” Emira paused mid-sentence to consider her words. “I didn’t think he’d understand.”

Again, Viney didn’t buy it. “What’s so hard to understand?” Her eyebrows were furrowed, her tone biting.

Emira had earned her criticism, but she tried to keep it on track. “It was too embarrassing.”

“Do Blights not make friends like everybody else?” Viney mocked her, clearly irritated with the conversation. She had raised her voice, increasing the tension in the room.

Emira’s emotions spiked and she slipped up, words coming out that were true, but she never intended to say. “I couldn’t admit I was falling for you.” Oh no, Emira cursed in her head, she hadn’t meant to say that.

Viney eyes widened at the statement, looking shocked. Her arms gradually fell away from her chest. “What did you say?” She asked, as if she couldn’t believe what she heard. She looked at Emira like she had grown a second head, confused with a hint of something else. Emira couldn’t tell. Her cheeks were slowly turning red.

“That is… I just…” Emira was absolutely mortified at what she just said. Somehow, despite everything, she had made everything worse. She had to get out of there. “Nothing, I have to go.” She stood abruptly, the legs of the chair making a loud scraping noise as it was pushed back.

Emira tore her eyes away from Viney and bolted for the door, not looking back. She couldn’t bear to see when Viney’s expression would change to the inevitable next step, disgust.

She practically slammed the door to the classroom, trying to look composed as she walked through the school. Almost all of the students were gone by then, but there could still be a few around.

She had just gone to apologize and explain herself, how had she ended up confessing? In the heat of the moment, the words just slipped out. What she had been thinking for the last few weeks, that she was slowly falling for this girl, couldn’t be kept in any longer.

The way Viney reacted though, her stare and confusion, she clearly didn’t return Emira’s feelings.

At least Emira had already designated the weekend to recover from heartbreak.

Next Chapter

[elisaphoenix13]

Promise Of Forever

It was an Avengers level threat. At least at first, so they let the twins join the battle. Even if it was only to help get civilians to safety. Thomas sped off to do as Stephen ordered, and William followed to cover him. The faster of the twins may be fast but he was still exposed so William used his magic to protect them while they got civilians away. Everything was going as smoothly as these things usually went...until whatever fuck ugly alien they were fighting...mutated. It's once exposed soft fleshy spots hardened over and it was like dealing with a Leviathan, but faster. It hit harder and Tony found that out the hard way, unfortunately Stephen could barely spare him a glance as he conjured a shield to protect himself from a tail whipping in his direction as his husband went sailing past him. Any other time he would have been able to slow or even stop his fall.

Not this time. His suit was built to protect him from hits or falls though so Stephen wasn't worried. He was more concerned about getting rid of this creature that went from Avenger level to god level. Thor and Loki were doing everything they could to expose weaknesses and Quill was already lighting up like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center. Considering the hits he was dishing out, it was safe to assume that Scott had been hit and didn't get back up. At least until the thief popped up next to Stephen.

"You're still fighting?" Stephen puffs out with some confusion. "Why is Quill berserk then?"

"I made sure not to get back up while he was looking. We need him pissed if we're going to take this thing down." Scott responds and the sorcerer nods.

It was a good tactic as long as Scott wasn't knocked out in the future. Tony didn't really enjoy having to use Beast Mode Protocol which was very similar to what they had to do with the Hulk, except Quill was surprisingly stronger. And the Hulk had some semblance of awareness going through his head while a berserk Celestial did not. Only one person on the field was safe from him and could calm him.

"Stephen...Tony hasn't gotten back up." Natasha's voice says over the comm and the doctor's stomach drops.

She only ever used his name when things were serious.

"Tony?" Stephen tries and when he gets nothing in response, he turns to run in the direction he last saw the engineer being tossed.

Quill was doing a good job of keeping the creature occupied, so Stephen was able to drop his shield and go to Tony's side. It took a little bit of Levi's help to get over and through the torn up buildings his husband had been tossed into, and when he finally reached him, it brought back a memory Stephen had hoped he would never have to remember again. It was after the battle with Thanos all over again. The Iron Man suit was sitting up against some rubble but the mask was still up and Stephen only hoped it did its job and that Tony was only knocked out.

"Tony!" Stephen calls a little louder as he moves closer and kneels in front of the suit. "Victor, get his scans from Friday...and send the boys home."

"Sending scans now Doctor."

Stephen's AI goes silent after that and he exhales shakily when the scans come up showing multiple contusions, a couple of cracked ribs, and most worrying...internal bleeding. Stephen could heal it enough so that it wasn't critical before he sent him to Bruce, but it was still hard to see. Tony's suit was made to protect him from these injuries, and he knew for a fact that his husband would crawl into his lab to fix his suit as soon as he woke up. Probably upgrade his and the boys' while he was at it. At least he wasn't skewered on some rebar. Peter, Scott, and Bucky all had experienced that at one point and all agreed they didn't recommend it.

The sorcerer reaches out and taps the reactor symbol to house the nanotech and then starts a healing spell. While there was always immediate visual progress, it still took time to get people out of a critical state. Time he may not have. A shockwave hit the building and had it trembling dangerously, and it also left Stephen temporarily breathless from the force. It was a sign that either Thor got Quill to team up with him or Scott had been knocked out and the god of thunder took it upon himself to try and tire the celestial out. He couldn't use the creature's cry of pain as an indication since not all of their enemies screamed out before breathing their last.

It didn't take long for him to notice that his magic wasn't doing what it was supposed to. Absolutely nothing had healed. Not even bruises and it had Stephen panicking. He turned to try and open a portal to the medbay, but his panic just made his magic spark uselessly.

"Stephen." Tony calls hoarsely and the doctor looks back at him with wide eyes. He never called Stephen by his name unless he was being serious.

"It's okay. We'll get you to Bruce. I'll get someone's atten--"

Stephen stops mid sentence when his husband lifts a hand to grab his arm. He didn't even remember reaching out to cup the engineer's face in a shaky hand, but there it was. It felt wrong. He remembered this and he didn't like it because if Tony died here, he couldn't fix it again. He didn't have the time stone since it had been returned to its original timeline, and Diana was far too inexperienced to use her time magic like that.

"Stephen--" Tony repeats in a whisper and Stephen grits his teeth.

"Don't! I'm getting you home and you're going to drive me and Bruce crazy by leaving the medbay as soon as we stop the bleeding. Someone come help me! We're in the building south of the bridge!"

Tony laughs wetly and the sorcerer watches in trepidation as blood trickles out the side of his mouth. He was drowning in his own blood. Stephen tries his magic again after calming himself and bites back a cry of dismay when nothing continues to happen.

"Tesoro..."

"I can't lose you again Tony. I can't. Not like this and not so soon after I got you back. You're dying of old age or caffeine overdose from your coffee because that's one thing you refuse to listen to me about!"

Tony grips Stephen's arm a little tighter to get his attention. "It's okay."

"No! It's not okay! We're not doing this! I'm not raising Valerie by myself! I'm not raising six children by myself you douchebag!"

Stephen finally releases the sob he had been holding back as he drops the hand he was using to try and heal his dying husband, and the tears flow freely when Tony lifts his scarred arm. Fingertips rough from years of tinkering and building and occasional burns brush away his tears.

"Y-You can't...you have no idea how Harley, Peter, and Diana took your death the first time!"

"They don't remember--"

"I do! I can't go through that again!" Stephen whimpers and Tony smiles weakly after coughing up a little more blood to clear his lungs.

"You'll be okay Duchess. You've got the team. Friday and Victor--"

He coughs some more and Stephen clenches his eyes shut against more tears as he leans forward to rest his forehead against Tony's. He could hear every breath the older man took come out as a wheeze and he hated it. He hoped that someone would reach them in time to get Tony the help he needed, but somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it wouldn't happen. He was going to lose one of the best things that happened to him. He found a friend, a lover in the last place he thought he would. He loved discovering the sides of Tony that very few if not just him knew about the billionaire. His weird quirks, his unhealthy obsession with coffee...and what an amazing husband and father he could be. Behind all the snark and sarcasm was a heart of gold. A man who pulled Stephen out of his misery and showed him that he could be loved...that he was so much more than his hands.

He needed Tony.

"Hey…" Tony rasps out in a whisper that Stephen had to strain to hear. He opens his eyes to meet chocolate ones, and his tears flow freely again at the look of adoration and complete unadulterated love held in them. "I love you."

"I love you too." Stephen chokes out. He grips the front of Tony's shirt as the engineer places a soft kiss on his cheek.

The final breath that escaped past Tony's lips after that seemed like the loudest thing Stephen had heard. He completely forgot about the trembling of the building around him, about the sounds of fighting...all he heard was that one breath and it was heart shattering. He felt a part of him die with Tony at that moment.

"Please…" He begs helplessly. "Please don't leave me…"

He broke after that. He sobbed openly and shamelessly let his tears fall as he chanted his husband's name over and over until it turned to begging...to shouting.

"TONY!"

Stephen wakes with a scream and a sweat soaked brow and he chokes on his breath as he looks around the pitch black room frantically. His breaths come short as the light comes on and a baby wails from its crib, and he jumps when strong arms wrap around him. Stephen looks to see who's holding him and sobs when he finds himself looking into familiar brown eyes. Eyes that were full of life and worry, and had Stephen clinging to his very alive husband desperately. It had all been a dream, but it was so vivid that he was having a hard time shaking it off and clawing his way back to reality. He hardly registered some muted talking before the baby's wails faded to nothing and all he could hear was the sweet sounds of Tony's breathing and his heartbeat.

"It's okay honey...it was just a dream."

Tony continued to hold him and whisper sweet nothings into his ear, and even though most of it was in Italian, it was soothing instead of sexual. The kisses peppered across his forehead and the hand rubbing up and down his back helped bring Stephen back fully into the waking world. It took a little over an hour, but his tears finally slowed to a stop and he had long since stopped hyperventilating. Only then did he question where the baby disappeared to.

"Harley took her to his room. She'll be okay."

Stephen nods and releases a shaky sigh, going with Tony when he moves to lay them down. He pulls the sorcerer close and Stephen lays his head on his husband's shoulder and presses as close as possible to the engineer as he lays his arm over the older man's chest and intertwines his legs with Tony's. Tony gently cards his fingers through Stephen's hair to further soothe him, and the couple lay like that for another hour until Stephen finally relaxes into his hold and willingly tries to fall asleep again.

"I love you." The younger whispers.

Tony gently kisses his forehead and brushes away the last remains of Stephen's tears with his damaged arm. "I love you too. Forever."

Forever still wasn't long enough.

[squirreljc]

Cas’s Confession

I've seen a lot of people criticizing Dean's reaction, and, while I don't completely disagree, I feel I should put my viewpoint out there.

      Firstly, many have just ignored that this is essentially a suicide note. Cas just told Dean he will be dead in a matter of minutes. Personally, I have experienced a loved one suddenly dying on short notice. The last similar occasion was two years ago. My dad went into cardiac arrest following a routine surgery, and even the medical professionals thought he wouldn't make it. My reaction upon hearing the news was to push my emotions deep down and not react. I was not raised in a family where crying was acceptable, so, even though my dad is one of the most important people in my life, I stayed stoic. My tears were not important, staying strong for my family was. (My dad pulled through and is fine now, in case you were wondering.) Dean had to stay strong for Cas (and the rest of the world). His upbringing was similar to mine, in that his father favored action over affection. Dean showed no emotions because he needed to for Cas. Giving into sadness instead of listening would have ultimately done nothing.

      One other portion I would like to address is Castiel's coming out. Dean has a history of reacting very softly to others' sexualities. Whether it was Charlie, Aaron, the Cuevases, or Demian & Barnes, Dean has always responded rather awkwardly to LGBT admissions. Regardless of if Dean reciprocates Cas's feelings, he is always a bit strange when faced with this variety of conversation. As a mostly-closeted bisexual woman, I have a pretty emotionless response to being told of others' sexualities. For me, it's because I'm so far into the closet, I'm practically swimming in amontillado. I don't want to give any indication as to my sexuality, and I vaguely fear being too accepting to quickly will make me a bit suspicious. I've had time to work on this, since I now accept my own sexuality. Dean, on the other hand, has more than likely had no time to prepare himself for a confession of love from his best friend.

      Lastly, I don't particularly like myself. Cas points out that Dean sees himself as a monstrous liability. I have never received a confession of love, and I don't expect to... ever? I don't really see myself as somebody worthy of love, let alone romantic love. I find an admission of a long term crush on me an impossibility, which is how Dean feels. He thought he was unlovable, and unworthy of being important. His seeming ignorance of Castiel is truly just apprehension. He was ready to die, but instead has to listen to his friend's unexpected acknowledgement of their amorous relationship that ends in Castiel's death instead. I would also be pretty hesitant and scared, especially if I reciprocated his emotions.

     While I don’t think Jensen played it perfectly, I don’t think his acting choices stem from bigotry. Jensen has a long history an ally, and has never truly expressed disdain for Destiel. He has more accurately shown displeasure at incessant shipping that detracted from the show. He has clearly made acting choices that influenced this ship, and he had some say in the script. If he felt so strongly about Cas’s confession, he could have refused to do the scene. He and Jared each have that kind of power over production. If Jensen thought the confession was detrimental, we would not have seen the confession. If you’ve read this far, all I’m asking is for you to reserve judgement until we see what this revelation does to Dean and his motivations.

TL;DR: As somebody who has been in similar situations, I think Dean's reaction was justified.