#they’re definitely gone or ruined by now no question

[chaoscradle]

my headphones. aren’t in the case

[a-spes]

| DEVIOUS LIES — Part two (8.790 words).

| Summary — Anon Request — When your friend asked you out for a drink, you didn't think much about it. Yet, maybe you should've, because that night ruined your life. It has been two years, and you can't stop think about what you lost. Your job, your friends, your lover, and even your mind was left in that motel room.

| Tags & warnings — Avenger!Natasha Romanoff x Avenger!Reader, AoS!OC x Avenger!Reader, Other Avengers, angst without comfort, cheating, mental health issues, suicidal ideations, self depreciation, mentions of SA&SH, manipulation, toxic relationship (OCxR), revenge porn, use of drugs.

| Author's notes — I don't know how I feel about that second part, i'm not sure i like it, but now it's written it costs me nothing to share. So here we are. I can just hope that I managed to convey, at least a little, the emotions I wanted to. And, most importantly, take care of yourself.

| MOODBOARD — ✧ — MASTERLIST — ✧ — TO SAY SOMETHING

| Part one. Part two. Part three.

Almost a year has gone by, and it means one thing: in a few weeks, it’s going to be Natasha's birthday, again. The woman is not sure how she feels about it. She never really had a birthday before she joined the Avengers, and despite the years that have passed since, she still feels a certain awkwardness at this time of the year. Especially as the boys tended to do too much.

She could only pretend to match their enthusiasm. A slight smile spreads across her face as she takes a sip from her drink, staying silent. She has been listening to her teammates talking about her birthday’s party for almost half an hour now. She stopped trying to avoid it a long time ago, when she realized how much they enjoyed organizing this stupid party. She can deal with anything they’re going to come up with if she gets to see their smiles in exchange. Her sentence won’t last more than a few hours, but the memories are going to stick with them for eternity, and it has no price.

"Wait, you know what?” someone asked. It was Clint, and by the mischievous smile on his face, the redhead already knew that she wouldn't appreciate the next words that are going to come out of his mouth. “I think we should have the mascot come over again," he added, his eyes not leaving hers. "What? It was funny to have a cartoon version of you running around," he defended himself when he saw her glance darkening.

"You know what? Do whatever you want," she mumbled, “it’s not as if you were asking for my opinion anyway,” she eventually gave in. Sometimes, you have to know how to pick your battles, and that is one she definitely cannot win, not when all the others seem to appreciate the idea.

"That’s such a great idea!” one exclaimed, and this time it was Peter Parker, “Mr. Stark, do you think they would accept to come again?” he asked the man.

"Obviously!" Tony replied without an ounce of hesitation, laughing at the question. The man thought it was a stupid thing to ask, "she likes you too much to miss your birthday,” he explained, pointing at the redhead while saying those words. "What? She pretends it’s not true, but I know she is lying. I can see right through her and, believe me, she’ll be here,"  he explained when he noticed the confused looks of his teammates.

"Who’s she?" a voice asked, cutting short to Tony’s rambling. That’s the question that has been on everyone’s minds, but that no one dared to ask out loud, except for one of them — And it hasn’t been Natasha, it is Steve that spoke first.

On the contrary, the woman remained silent because she didn’t need words to express herself, a silent conversation taking place between the billionaire and her through a simple glance. Even if she already has her suspicions, and is almost sure that she knows the answer to that question, she wants him to say it, refusing to believe it otherwise.

The moment she saw the box, she was intrigued by it, something drawing the woman to the small package that no one claimed as theirs. It’s almost as if it came out of nowhere, no one knowing who left it here, or what may be inside the black box. At first, she thought it was some joke, but she knew they were being honest when saying they had nothing to do with the gift. And if she had expected a lot of things to be wrapped in the red ribbon, she definitely wasn’t ready for a ghost from her past to emerge from it.

A quick glance before she suddenly closes the box again, that’s all it took for the redhead to know who was behind that gift. The only thing she could think about was how — How did it happen without any of them noticing your presence? Despite the appearances, and the smile she was trying to keep on, the woman was shaken — Why would you do that, more than two years after your break up? Could it be that you are that desperate?

"Is everything okay?" Clint asked, being the only one to seem to notice a change in Natasha’s behavior. At least, everyone had enough restraint to not ask the question that burns their lips — What’s inside the box?

She wouldn’t have answered if one of them had asked. She wouldn’t even have opened the gift if she had known that it was from you, and that’s probably why you left it on the table, avoiding giving it to her directly. Smart girl, she thought. At first sight, the woman couldn’t tell it was coming from you but there was no doubt remaining once she saw the content — There is only one person on Earth that cares enough to give her such a gift. A person that constantly looks after her, guessing what the redhead wasn’t telling.

A person that she used to love. 

A person that couldn’t be here, was she? The woman can’t help but glance around but she can’t find your face. What was she expecting anyway? To see you in the corner of the room with a bright smile and your arms open for her to throw herself in a hug? That was stupid, and so is the hint of hope she felt when she opened the box. The others told her many times she has to turn the page, but she doesn’t seem ready to let you go. Even after two years, she is still craving your presence as much as before.

The thought of it puts to shame the redhead who knows she shouldn’t hold on to the past, especially when the past in question has a pretty face and breaks her heart. Even after what you’ve done to her, she has spent hours crying, praying for you to come back. Even after listening to the others assuring her that she deserves better, she couldn’t forget how you’ve always been the most caring, and strong, and beautiful person she has ever met in her life. 

You weren’t horrible. Were you? 

Sometimes, she thinks you are a monster. 

Sometimes, she thinks she is, for not listening to you that day. 

That day, she let her anger speak for her, something she swore she would never do again. When she started to realize that, maybe, she should’ve listened to your version of the events, it was too late. At the time, she couldn’t bear to hear the sound of your voice or see your voice, but after two years, as the memory of it starts to fade away, she surprised herself to miss it. 

Except that Fury had refused to tell her where you were. She tried to ask nicely, to beg, and even to threaten the man, but none of it worked. He said that you needed time, that you’ll be back when you are ready, not before. Despite her frustration, the woman accepted it. After all, she is the one to blame, the one that puts herself in such a situation. She could only hold on to the fact that, one day, you’ll be back. Right? As the days go by, the likelihood of ever seeing you again is gradually diminishing. Some nights, when she can’t sleep, she stays up, eyes fixed on her laptop’s screen — Maybe she could give fate a helping hand? She knows she could find you easily. Yet, despite her urge to do it, she has always ended up closing her laptop without starting the research. 

She has to trust Fury, she repeats to herself. Even if she sometimes disagrees with the man, even if it’s frustrating, she has to believe him when he says that you are safe.

Some other nights, all she can feel is anger, and hatred. The redhead is lost, and scared, again, something she never thought she would feel again the day you two met. What if it was true, and you really cheated on her? Then, you could do it again if she forgives you, because history always repeats itself, and you are no exception to the rules of the universe. She knows how people tend to promise a lot of things that they don’t mean, especially when they are desperate, which is exactly what you’ve been that day. She couldn’t forget the look on your face when she dragged you out of the building, the despair in those bright eyes, glistening with tears. This is the only thing she can remember when she thinks about you. Not the good moments you’ve shared, only the brutality of the end of your relationship. 

You've abandoned her, and so did she.

It has been three since she last saw you, and almost a year since her birthday party, but the woman couldn’t stop thinking about it. She didn’t take the gift, leaving the jewelry in the box, and the box on a shelf. She hasn't touched it since. How could she when just the sight of it was already too much to bear?

Every day, when she wakes up, it is one of the first things she sees, and one of the last when she goes to sleep. If it doesn’t feel right to the woman to take the gift, it doesn’t feel right to throw it in the bin either, so it stayed here as a constant reminder of what she has done. Every time she thinks she is finally over it, the box rekindles her doubts. There are some things she can’t quite understand about the situation, and why you would give her such a gift, two years after she kicked you out, is one of them.

Maybe it was a poisoned gift. Maybe it was a sick trick to make her feel guilty, a way to get her to crawl back to you. Beside these possibilities, she couldn’t think of any others that were likely, and she was afraid to admit that your plan was working. The box was a permanent reminder of your existence, something she couldn’t get herself to give away because of those dumb feelings she was experiencing. Somehow, she was holding on to that last piece of your years together after she threw away everything else with the help of the team.

The pictures, the clothes, the gifts, even your favorite cutlery has been burned a few days after you left them. It is almost as if you’ve never stepped a foot into the building, as if you’ve never existed. The woman was fine with the idea of pretending that nothing happened — She was fine with the idea of erasing every remaining part of your relationship.

Except that black box. It is stupid how she hangs onto that last proof of the relationship she once had with you. She had burned everything, but she couldn’t get herself to do the same with that gift. Maybe because she knew that she could never erase you completely from her life. She surely could pretend, it is a game she is really good at, but you would always be on the back of her mind because memories don't go away as easily as objects do.

Since she had opened the box, doubt had been creeping inside of her — What if? What if she has been wrong the whole time? What if she should have listened to you? Give you a second chance? That day, her reaction had been dictated by anger and hatred, feelings that still inhabit her soul, but have faded over the years. For two years, she had been sure that she made the right choice — At least, that’s what everyone kept telling the woman, and she listened to their comforting words.

But since she opened the box, she was no longer sure of anything. She wasn’t the one that wanted you gone in the first place. She surely needed a bit of space before being able to talk with you properly, but only a few days, maybe a few weeks, not two years, and definitely not more than that. That little box only worsened her doubt because who would be desperate enough to still cling to the person they betrayed, years after the events? A person truly in love. She had kept her doubts for herself before that day. If she is almost sure of the identity of the person who gave her the box, because there is only one person on that planet that cares enough to gift her something so meaningful, there are still a lot of questions to which she doesn’t have the answers — For example, how did you manage to sneak into the building without everyone knowing? She now knows that someone knew the whole time.

“Tell me,” she firmly asked the man, leaving little room for discussion.

No one pointed out the thing he has said about the mascot, the subject of the conversation quickly changed after that. Except, while they were talking about which flavor the cake should be, Natasha could think of nothing but Tony’s words — “She likes you too much to miss your birthday”, “she pretends it’s not true but I know she is lying.” So when everyone eventually decided to go back to their rooms, around two in the morning, she stayed a bit longer in the common room in hope of getting some information.

“Sorryy, I can’t, I don’t know anything,” the man replied, indifferent to her tone, “anything at all,” he repeated, chuckling like a child who has done something wrong. 

The woman sighs, pinching her nose as she takes a deep breath, trying to not lash out her frustration on the man. The conversation isn’t exactly going the way she had hoped, Tony refusing to answer her question no matter how many times she has already asked. She even tried to blackmail him, but he was persistent in pretending that he didn’t know anything. When he almost falls on the ground trying to get a few steps back, it has been the last straw for the woman. Gladly, someone entered the room before she could hit him so hard that it would have sobered him in an instant.

"Is everything okay?" the voice asked, and both of them immediately shut up to turn their heads toward the woman who just entered the room, Astrid. She is leaning in the doorway, her gaze alternating between Tony and Natasha.

She hates her. Not as much as she hates you, but she still feels resentful toward the agent. When she smiles, when she speaks, even when she is just here, existing, the woman can’t help but hate her from the depths of her heart. Gladly, she rarely sees her, as an agent of the S.H.I.E.L.D., she is only around when they have outstanding missions. If Natasha had a choice, she would’ve thrown her away with you that day. 

"She wants me to admit that her girlfriend was the one in the costume," he immediately replied, "but sshht, we can’t let her know that!" he added, holding his index finger in front of his mouth for a few seconds before leaving the room giggling. 

"I know what happened," she eventually said when she noticed that Natasha was about to leave after a few seconds when they glanced at each other in silence. "Th- That night, in the motel room~," she added, her voice being hesitant. Those words made the redhead stop in her tracks.

"If you're about to rub in my face how you've ruined my life, you can shut up," she immediately cut her, not wanting to listen to the woman, not if it’s to tell her about how she fucked the woman she loves. Her voice was full of anger, just like the murderous look in her eyes. The only thing that prevented the woman from immediately leaving the room was the thing she saw in the other’s eyes. Her attitude betrayed her emotions, a mix of guilt, sadness, and shame, which aroused her curiosity. 

With a nod, she ordered her to continue.

That morning, as many others, you are woken up by your girlfriend’s gentle touches, her fingers slowly tracing circles on your stomach. A hum of satisfaction escapes your lips before your turn around, nuzzling your head further into the crook of her neck.

How could you have known it would be the last time? How could you have possibly guessed that the routine you’ve got used to would be broken so quickly?

Every morning, it is the same thing, and while the former spy has no problems getting up early, you definitely can’t say the same for yourself. She is always awake before you are and, even if she had never admitted it, you are sure that she takes a few minutes to observe your sleeping form. She loves seeing you so peaceful and calm, being able to have a glimpse of your face without those worry lines, without the marks of your anxieties. 

She is always the one who wakes you up, and you wouldn’t have it any other way. There is no better way to start a day than Natasha’s sweet words and caresses. It’s her fault if you never want to get out of bed, wishing every morning that you could stay in that bed, next to her, for the rest of your life. Sometimes, you suggest that you tell the others you are sick, just to spend a day together, but she just laughs, dismissing your idea.

But all the good things must come to an end, right?

"It's time to get up, milaya," she softly said in your ear, her breath tickling your skin, "Astrid won't be happy if you are late again," she added when the only answer you gave her was a groan of discontent.

"They won't say anything if I am late once, it's okay", you mumbled, her words not being enough to convince you to leave the comfort of her arms. 

Especially when you realize that there is nothing to get excited about the day ahead of you, in perspective, only hours spent in an office, listening to men who think they know everything better than you do. Today, you are supposed to attend an important meeting alongside Astrid, and you still don’t know why you volunteered. The thought of the paperwork and the efforts that you will have to put in pretending that you are actually happy to be here definitely don’t worth your pay.

Except that you’ve lied to Natasha, and she knows it. This is definitely not the first time that you are being late, it happens almost every day, to the point that the day you are in time can probably be counted on your hands. Gladly, when you are coming in the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s quarters, it's Astrid who’s your supervisor, and she appears to also be your best friend. Most of the time, she is kind enough to accept to close her eyes on your delays. Today, you came in only ten minutes late, and the woman was somehow impressed, expecting you to be later than that.

“You’re late, again,” she replied, obviously waiting for an excuse that you don't have. She would know if you are lying to her, and you don't have the energy for that kind of game today, and you could see that the woman neither. She was starting to get tired of every day starting with the same bullshit coming from your mouth.

“I am so, so, sorry,” you said to her for what may be the tenth time since you’ve entered the office. She is walking fast, and you are trying to catch up with the black-haired woman, who is also your superior within the S.H.I.E.L.D. “Please, don’t tell Fury,” you begged, but all she did was roll her eyes, and give you a file when you eventually reached her office. You quickly glanced at it before closing it again, your attention focused on the woman, “Astrid, I am serious. He is going to give me more paperwork if you do. Or worse. Imagine if he forces me to train the new recruits, you know I can’t do that again. Please, …,” you added, looking at her imploringly.

“And what do I have in exchange?” she sighed, turning around to look at you, one eyebrow raised. Despite her serious expression, you know she was trying to not laugh. She may be your boss, but above all she is your friend, and you both know that she would never tell Fury about your delays. Even if she has threatened you to do so a few times in the past, she has never actually done it. Yet, this time she felt like she needed something in exchange, she had covered for you enough time for free, and you were happy to thank your friend with whatever she may want.

“Anything you want!” you replied, desperate but no less honest. 

“Tonight, after work, you pay me a drink, deal?” she asked after pretending to think for a few seconds. In reality, she already knew what she wanted from you. She has thought about asking you out since the moment you met, something you’ve never noticed, always reducing her to the role of a friend, and not keeping up on the clues she was leaving you. Tonight, however, she will be clearer than she has ever been.

“Deal!” you immediately said, accepting the proposal without thinking twice about it. "Thank you. Thank you so, so much. You are the best," you added, kissing your friend on the cheek before leaving the room quickly, a sight that made the woman chuckle.

It is a deal that makes you both happy. You have met Astrid at the Academy, when you were both trainees that dreamed of joining the S.H.I.E.L.D. without even knowing if you were good enough for that. The two of you quickly became close — That’s the kind of thing that happens where you are the only two females of your promotion. Either you hate each other over your dead bodies, or you grow so close that you become inseparable. 

Except that, since you've both achieved your dreams and joined S.H.I.E.L.D, something changed in your relationship. It wasn’t your fault, nor hers, that you had less time to see each other, your jobs taking a lot of your time and energy. Then you've been assigned on a long-term mission with the Avengers, and you’ve spent less time at the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s quarters despite still working for the organization. Then you've met Natasha, and you feel like you’ve slightly grown apart from each other after you’ve announced to her your new relationship. On the whole, you had less time to spend with your best friend, and the promises to make up for the lost time have never been kept, not until today. That deal was the perfect occasion to spend a bit of time together outside of the office work.

You both really hoped that this night would make things back as they were before.

"You know, I love her," she confessed to the redhead, her voice being barely louder than a whisper as she felt tears filling her eyes. "Since the day we met, I have loved her. That's what I told her, that night, when we went out," she admitted, and Natasha felt her heart pounding in her chest, her hands were shaking with apprehension, “but she rejected me. She loves you so much, too much," she sadly chuckled, but the redhead felt no relief when she heard those words because they were not explaining the pictures. She can't cry, not now, not in front of that woman.

"Continue," she ordered, feeling that the woman had more to say than that. She already knew that Astrid loved you, you may be the only one that hadn't seen it, or maybe you were pretending, or maybe you were blinded by your love for Natasha.

"I didn't plan to do that, you know," she started, carefully looking at the spy, "but I was so desperate that night, and I-," she said, except she was unable to finish her sentence, the words stuck in her throat.

The past three years, she had kept the truth a secret. At first, she thought it was better that way. The woman was ashamed of her actions, and she was relieved when heard that you’ve been transferred to another department, and she thought that her secret would be safe. Except that, if everyone acted as if you’ve never existed, her mind didn’t allow her to forget. Every hour of every day, you were in her mind, and the longer she thought about that night, the biggesther guilt became, until the burden was too heavy to bear. Tonight, hearing them argue about you, has been the last straw.

“What did you do?” she asked, sensing that something was wrong. She didn’t like the feeling that was creeping inside of her, “what. did. you. do.?” she asked once again, but more firmly that time, when the other didn’t immediately answer her question. As she saw the hesitation, she reduced the distance between them in a second, her hand gripping the collar of Astrid’s shirt that she pins to the wall abruptly, “tell me. Now,” she insisted as the interaction only reinforced the bad feeling she had.

That morning, unlike the others, you woke up alone. There haven’t been the gentle caresses of your girlfriend to wake you up, nor her sweet words to coax you into getting up. No, that day, it was only yourself, draped into the cold sheets, and it felt so strange, the silence and the loneliness of the room. Sadly, it has not been the exception you’ve wished it would be, but only the first of too many mornings like that.

In the sleepy state you were in, it took you a few seconds to realize that something was wrong, and almost a minute before you noticed that you weren’t home. You couldn’t even recognize the place you were in, only knowing that it looked like a hotel, a shitty one if you might say. The room was small, simple, and not-so-comfortable. There was something in the ambience that gave you an uneasy feeling about the whole thing, but you were unable to say what it was exactly.

Your head is throbbing, and you are definitely feeling nauseous, but you know that’s not the problem. Your physical distress isn’t the cause of the weight on your chest, the one that makes your breath aching, it’s something else that your mind can’t comprehend yet. It’s all these inconsistencies. The missing memories of last night, the unknown room, the fact that you are alone,... you don’t remember drinking that much last night. You may not be the most responsible person that planet has known, but you know how to handle yourself. Usually. 

Could you have possibly drunk that much? 

The day has barely started, but you already know it is going to be a rough one. If only you knew how right you were, maybe you would have taken a few more hours of sleep, enjoying the comfortable peace of your old life a bit longer before joining the chaos. Yet, you had no means to guess that your day would go that way. 

It's a note left on the bedside table that answered all your questions, easing some of the worries that were creeping inside of you. Someone has written the following words : “Couldn’t get you home because of how drunk you were. don’t worry about being late today, I won’t tell Fury. however, had to go on a mission, be careful when you go home. I left you a bit of money, it should be enough to pay for the room and an Uber. Love you.” The message might not have been signed, but you can easily recognize Astrid’s handwriting. A smile spreads across your lips as you are reassured, the situation not being as bad as your mind made it look.

Some memories of last night flew back in your mind, but it’s only a glimpse of what happened, a lot of the events staying unknown to yourself. The last thing you can remember is the conversation you had with Astrid, when she admitted that she loved you and you replied that you too, thinking she meant as friends because you couldn’t see her any other way, not when you were already engaged in a relationship. The rest of the exchange is confused, and you are not sure what’s real and what has been made up by alcohol. Even today, you are still not sure. 

Maybe you’ve really drunk too much that night.

Knowing that you’ve been with Astrid the whole time was reassuring, and you are no longer as bothered by the absence of memories. For a moment, you thought you'd been kidnapped by some weird man. As you regain your composure, your thoughts become clearer and you decide that the first thing you should do is to send a message to your girlfriend. She must be so worried, and your heart aches at the thought that you might be a source of problem for the woman you love.

It is not your kind to not keep your promises, and you’ve told her you would be home last night. It is not your kind either to not answer her messages or calls. In reality, you are quite the opposite, always sending her hundreds of messages when you are out with your friends. The only reason she hasn’t got after you is because she knew you were with Astrid, and she trusted you. However, the sweet messages are going to have to wait because, when you try to turn your phone on, you only encounter a black screen, a sign that you’ve run out of battery. Obviously, your friend didn’t think to leave you a charger.

You sigh, admitting your defeat. Shaking your phone surely won’t change the situation. For the moment, there is nothing more you can do, except hoping that Natasha won’t be too angry. As you are getting ready, your mind is focused on how to earn the redhead’s forgiveness — Maybe you could stop to buy her some flowers? You hate it, when the two of you are arguing. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it’s never pretty, and the mere thought that it might happen was already hurting.

As you definitely couldn’t go back to the compound by yourself, not knowing how far you were and being in a pitiful state, you decided to use the money left by Astrid to call a cab, as she instructed you to do. It’s not before you enter the car that you realize how late you actually were. It is almost one in the afternoon, and if you are not an early riser, like your girlfriend who is always up by six at the latest, you rarely get up after ten.

It has been a thirty minutes drive back to the compound, and the whole time you were thinking about two things: taking a shower, and leaning into your girlfriends’ arms. You are so exhausted, physically and mentally, that you’ve decided to skip work today — You were already so late that it wouldn’t make a big difference anyway. The journey was long, and those thirty minutes felt like hours. 

Soon enough, you started to suffocate into your own mind, then skin. You felt so sweaty, and dirty, that it quickly became unbearable. Maybe it was the effects of the alcohol, or maybe because you’ve slept in a seedy motel, but the only thing you wanted was to get rid of the clothes you were wearing and the uncomfortable state you were in as soon as possible.

When you enter the compound, you find it empty, and so is the room you are sharing with the woman. If you frown, you don’t think much about it. If the building is rarely empty, it sometimes happens when emergencies are called. A whine escapes your lips as you realize that, if it’s true, they are going to be mad at you for not being here when they needed it. You can already feel your mind losing itself to self-hatred thoughts, as you mutter to yourself how stupid you are. You are going to need more than a few flowers to earn their forgiveness. The fact that JARVIS confirmed that everyone was at the S.H.I.E.L.D.'s quarters didn’t, you would have preferred to hear that they went to the restaurant without you rather than that.

Tears brimming your eyes, you quickly put your phone to charge. It is only when you get out of the shower, twenty minutes later, that you saw the missed calls and messages from Natasha. The most recent ones were sent a few minutes ago. There were too many of them for you to take time to read everything so you just sent her a quick text that said: “sorry, my battery was dead, and I couldn’t answer your calls. I’ll explain everything, I promise. see you soon. love you.” A message she saw but she didn’t answer, which is unusual and an obvious hint of how angry she probably is.

Despite your decision to not work today, you still end up in the S.H.I.E.L.D.’s quarters. You are almost running in the corridors, going to the meeting room where you find your girlfriend, and the rest of the Avengers. When you stumble into the room, a deadly silence descends. None of them greeted you, and the only reaction you got was Fury’s nod when you started mumbling excuses for your late arrival. While your eyes immediately landed on the redhead, she didn’t glance at you once of the entire meeting. The sight made your heart sink. You love her, but you have to admit that the spy is scary when she has that stern expression on her face, one that leaves no room for discussion.

The safest decision was to sit on the furthest chair, leaving her space until you get the opportunity to explain yourself. Something that you hadn't had a chance to do before a few more hours, when you stumbled into her in the corridors. You have been lost in your mind, having a hard time focusing on your work. Earlier, when the meeting ended, she immediately left the room, not leaving you a chance to exchange a word with her, and it has been bugging you since.

“Please, wait,” you said, already begging the woman. When she heard your voice, she stopped, allowing you to gently grab at her arm so she didn't go. She could, if she wanted to, and a part of her did want to run away, but the rest of her knows that this conversation can’t be avoided. “Listen, I- I am sorry,” you started once you were sure she was willing to listen to your excuses, “I should have warned you, but I couldn’t, my phone’s battery was dead and, and- honestly? I don't remember much of what happened last night. All I know is that once was enough. It won't happen again,” you chuckled sadly. When you woke up that morning, you promised to yourself that it was the last time you drank that much. A promise you kept, and three years later, you still haven’t touched a bottle of alcohol. “I promise, 'tasha. Please, don't be mad at me for that, or at least tell me how I can make up for my mistake,” you said, and the woman knew she had heard enough.

“Seriously?” she scoffed, breaking free of your grip. “I can’t believe you are that stupid,” she said, as she started to walk away. But if she didn’t want to hear the sound of your voice any more, you, however, weren’t done yet.

"I know I’ve made a mistake, but I am fine, isn’t it the most important?” you asked, starting to follow. Except that, when she heard your steps in her back, she accelerated her pace. “I promise to be more careful next time but, you know, I can handle myself for one night. Well, I might have drunk a bit too much, but Astrid was wi~,” you tried to explain, except she cut short your ramblings. To say, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, but the woman quickly cut you. She scoffed again, in disbelief this time.

"You are really stupid, aren't you?” she said, stopping in her tracks, and you almost ran into her, surprised by her sudden stop. A few more seconds passed before she turned around to face you, her posture matching her stern expression. “Do you think I don't know what happened last night, with Astrid? Do you really think I wouldn’t have known the truth?” she added, taking a step forward for every question she asked, and you took one back every time, until your back hit the walls. You would certainly have found the situation hot if she didn’t look like she was about to murder you.

“W- what?” you said, “you are mad because I went out with a friend. That’s the problem? Astrid is the problem?" you snapped, starting to feel frustrated about the whole situation. 

You are tired, and the only thing you’ve wanted to do since you opened your eyes that morning — Throwing yourself in your girlfriend’s arms — was impossible to do. You hadn’t expected the woman to give you such a hard time. You knew she could be jealous sometimes, you’ve already had arguments about that in the past, but you’ve always been understanding because you know that her jealousy isn’t caused by a lack of trust. This feeling is fuelled by her own insecurities and past. Except that, that time, it was too much. The way she wouldn't listen to your excuses is seriously hitting on your nerves.

"Don't you dare to lie to me,” she said. For a moment, you thought she was going to hit you, but she took a step back before she could do that. She was angry too, taking deep breaths in an attempt to ease the feeling. “I trusted you,” she eventually added but her tone was different — The anger left her voice, replaced by pain. “I trusted you and, most importantly, I loved you,” she whispered, turning around to see you one last time. “After everything I have done for you, I can't believe that's how you are thanking me. You know, I really thought you were different, better," she laughed, trying very hard to not throw you against the walls or worse, to cry. The most insufferable was the look in your eyes, the false innocence. She was tired of pretending, she had given you enough chances to tell her the truth, “but you’re not,” but now, she was done trying.

That is the last time the two of you talked. The next time you’ve seen her, she hasn’t been kind enough to let you have a chance to explain things. She was done trying, and so were you. The last words she said are still ringing in your head, even years later. Maybe if you'd chased her once again that day, things would have ended differently, but you haven’t moved. You couldn’t, petrified by the conversation that just took place, you have just watched the redhead walking away without glancing back.

It’s only when you enter the break room that you understand the whole conversation you had with Natasha. No one was here, but the walls had been covered with pictures of yourself. At first, you thought it was a prank from your teammates’ but the pictures were all but innocent. You felt your heart sink when you took down one of the photos to get a closer look at it, and tears in your eyes when you realized that you were nude in those.

It was you, in bed, with Astrid. Your face doesn’t entirely show but you can easily recognize yourself and the bed you’ve woken up in that morning. There were dozens of different pictures, but all showed similar scenes: your bodies against each other as you are obviously sharing an intimate moment. Something that you should only share with one person on that Earth. A person that is definitely not Astrid. 

Except that the more you look at those pictures, the more foreign they feel. You are sure you are the one in the pictures, but you are still unable to remember what happened. Slowly, doubt creeps into your heart — Did you drink that much last night? 

So much that you betrayed the woman you swore to love until the sun dies? 

You feel tears welling up in your eyes. You are suddenly overwhelmed by a bunch of emotions that you can’t describe, but that are definitely not pleasant. It is a mix of confusion, anger, guilt, and disgust. The pictures speak for themselves, and they leave little room for doubt about what you were doing — And you were surely not just sleeping. The woman was on top of you, her mouth closed to your neck, maybe she was leaving soft kisses against your skin, maybe she was whispering sweet things in your ears, you don’t know. But the thing you were focused on was her hand hidden by the sheets, leaving only your imagination to complete the scene. It wasn’t the only picture of that kind: they were all picturing similar scenes. You can easily understand her rage and hatred earlier because you are now sharing those feelings with your girlfriend, just for different reasons.

"What's wrong sweetheart?" a voice said, pulling out of your mind. It was Astrid, who just entered the room. She glanced around before looking back at you, a sad smile spreading on her lips when she notices the tears that are soaking your face. and you saw Astrid entering the room. She looks around, a sorry look on her face. "I am sorry,” she started, and you could feel she was looking for the right thing to say, “I- I sent the pictures to the wrong person. When I realized, I tried to explain to Romanoff but, well… you know how she is,” she explained, shrugging as if she was trying to make you believe she had actually tried to, “she wouldn't listen to me, and they- they did that before I could stop them. It doesn’t please me either," she added, reminding you that you weren’t the only one suffering from the situation. Except she seemed to deal with the situation better than you do. As she talked, she slowly walked closer to you, accompanying each of her sentences with a few steps forward until she was close enough to wrap you in her arms. 

You didn’t get the energy to push her away.

"Did we.. ?" you asked, but your voice broke before you could finish your sentence. It felt too difficult to say those words out loud — “Did we hook up? Did I cheat on Natasha?” But the woman doesn’t need the words to be said, she seems to read in your mind the end of your sentence.

"Of course we did, what kind of question is that?" she replied, frowning. She seems to be surprised by your question. For a second, the hand that was slowly caressing the back of your head stopped. The woman pulled back a little, just so she could see your face. "Why? Do you regret it?" she asked, and for an instant she seemed to be genuinely worried about your reaction, "because you didn't seem to last night, when you cried my name,..." she whispered in your ear. You could feel her breath tickling your skin but it wasn’t a pleasant feeling, unlike when Natasha does it.

Everything felt so much. Her voice, her touch, her presence so close to you, was now unbearable. As she remembers the night you’ve spent, a soft smirk spreads on her lips, but you are definitely not sharing her feelings. “Of course we did.” The words loop back into your mind, it seeps in like a poison that quickly takes over your whole being. Soon, you are paralyzed by an awful feeling. It hurts, but at the same time you are not sure you are actually feeling something, your body and mind feeling so foreign to you — If you wanted it, why does it feel so wrong?

At that moment, if you had been able to move, you would have ripped your ears off just so you wouldn’t hear her voice any more, and maybe you would have done the same with your skin. It felt like the only way to get rid of your overwhelming feelings. Suddenly, the reassuring touch of your best friend made you feel gross, and so do her sweet words — But if she said that you did it, and wanted it, then it must be true, right?

You have seen the pictures, they are in your hands, right under your eyes. You can see yourself betraying the woman you love and in those, you really don't give the impression that you didn’t want to. On the contrary.

"No, no, it- it's not that, it’s just…," you eventually managed to say, but you are hesitating and unsure of yourself. There are too many thoughts and words clouding your head, so many ways you could react and yet, none of what you could say or do felt right. "It’s just that I don’t even remember last night,” you admitted, feeling ashamed about it, “I mean, did we- you know,... for real?" you asked softly but you were not even listening to Astrid’s answer, the question was more for yourself in reality. "Sorry, I have to go, see you later", you said, interrupting the woman. Somehow, you regained control over your body, just enough to push the other away and leave the room. You are not sure where you are going, but as far from that room as you can is already a good start.

That's where she found you when she came home that night, sitting on the bathroom's floor, the pictures in your hands.

Your hand is still wrapped tightly around the pictures, but you didn’t notice it. Not before being back home, in the room you are sharing with Natasha — Or were sharing, you thought, unsure about how the situation would unfold. It may be the last time you set a foot in that room that has been your safe place for months. Before you could completely break down, you decided to take a shower, thinking that, maybe, the steaming water would be enough to ease your mind. You took two showers. Then three, then four, and maybe more. You can’t be sure, you’ve stopped counting. All you knew was that it hasn’t been enough to get rid of the uneasy feelings and thoughts. You’ve scrubbed yourself until your skin was so sensitive that even the touch of the towel has been painful — But maybe you deserved it.

The rest of the day is a blur, and you are not sure what time it is. You’ve spent hours on the bathroom’s floor, your left hand clenched around the picture while the right one was holding the towel. Your head was so empty, but so full at the same time. That’s how she found you when she came home that night, and if she had been tempted to wrap you in her arms when she saw your pitiful state, the conversation she just had with the others discouraged her to do so — You didn’t deserve her pity. They are right when they say that you are not the victim: you are the one that cheated on her, and she needs to be firm, stern. You knew how hard it is for the woman to trust someone and yet, you still broke the fate she had put in you after years of making her dream of a better future.

"Oh, so you remember now?" she coldly said to you when she entered the room. You didn’t move, not even your eyes to look at her, but if you did, you would have seen that the woman was leaning in the doorway with her arms crossed. Maybe you would have also seen that her coldness was only a facade, and that she was as close as you were from breaking down. 

You stayed silent, unable to say anything. The words were stuck in your clenched throat, and they aren’t feeling right anyway — How could you defend yourself when you didn't even know what happened exactly? Plus, you weren’t even sure there was something to defend, the pictures speaking for themselves. Even when she started packing your belongings, you didn’t move. For you to move, she had to grab your arm and drag you all the way outside the Avengers’s building by herself. 

She needed you gone, and everyone agreed that it was only for the best. At least for a few weeks, just the time for things to calm down. That’s what she came to announce. The few words that left your mouth were useless, your pleas falling in deaf ears: the decision had already been made, and the sentence was irrevocable. The woman is done with your bullshit. She is done with you, and so you are.

"The pictures, they- they aren't real," she eventually admitted, her voice being barely louder than a whisper as she unburdens herself of this old secret. “I mean, th- they are, but it’s a staging. Nothing happened between us, she- hm, loves you too much to give you away,” she continued, tears filling her eyes as she talks, her voice wavering a little more with each word. "She isn't even conscious in these," she continued when the spy didn’t react. If the black-haired woman thought it was because the other was listening, it was because she didn’t know how to react.

The weight of what she had done left her shoulder, and it was now lingering in the room, where the air was suddenly thick, and almost unbreathable. Natasha felt a weight in her chest that made each breath harder than the previous one. Overcome by surprise, she had let go of the other, stepping back a few steps. Her thoughts were racing, numerous and contradictory, they weren’t coherent enough to allow how to respond in any way. She needed to do something, but she didn’t know what.

“I- I don’t know why I did that. It wasn’t me, that night, you know that, right? That I would usually never ever do something like that,” she started to defend herself when she saw the look on Natasha’s face, “I was so angry, and disappointed, when she refused. I have given her everything since we met, and yet you are the one she chose. I thought that, maybe, with a bit of time she would eventually realize her mistake, … but I was so wrong,” she sighed, and the redhead could see the remnants of that anger in her attitude. A clenching jaw and fists, accompanied with firm words that left no doubt about the resentment she held towards her, and towards you. “That night, I- I wasn’t myself. We’ve already had a few drinks and, you know, it doesn’t mix well with emotions,” she continued, and the woman could feel her anger rising with every word the other spoke. “All I could think about was getting revenge. I wanted to show her she was wrong, that I had so much more to offer than she thought. I wanted her to change her mind, to see me for more than just a friend,” she admitted, her voice being just a whisper as she says the last sentence. “I never thought it would end this way, I swear, you’ve to believe me, Natasha,” and to forgive me. She didn’t say the last words out loud, but she doesn’t need to, her eyes are speaking for herself.

Only, when her gaze met the redhead’s, she didn’t see in her eyes the compassion she had been expecting, only pure hatred, an emotion that had quickly replaced the initial surprise. Not even a word was addressed to her as the other left the room, leaving her alone to dry her tears.

| MOODBOARD — ✧ — MASTERLIST — ✧ — TO SAY SOMETHING

| Part one. Part two. Part three.

| Taglist — @cd-4848, @chocolatestrawberrykryptonite, @gemz5, @jusnough, @m0nsterqzzz, @marvelwomenarehot0, @mrsrushman, @riyaexee, @takeyaki, @taliiiaasteria.

[klausinamarink]

One Kid Gone, Another Up and Vanished (part 7)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 next: Part 8

spoilers but a phone call gets through!

“You’re a thousand percent sure?”

Mike groans as he checks down the school halls, “Yes, Lucas. How many times do I gotta tell you that?”

“Well, maybe until I’m positive that we’re not having a collective auditory hallucination or the weirdo isn’t tricking us.” Lucas crosses his arms. Beside Dustin, El mutters “auditory hallucination” to herself with furrowed eyebrows.

“You guys hear that?!” Dustin exclaims too loudly, earning equally loud shushes. “Sorry, but El just said a scientific word without mispronouncing it! She really does have superpowers…”

“Not now, Dustin.” Mike hushes as they finally get to the AV club. He unlocks the door and lets everyone inside after peeking in. He guides El to sit in front of the radio while Lucas and Dustin turn it on.

Dustin won’t lie - he’s super excited to see El use her powers for the radio. He couldn’t believe it when she made Will’s voice come out. Will! Alive and singing!

But he’s still confused over Mike’s news of Will being with someone named Eddie. Eddie who? is their biggest question but El can’t say because she doesn’t know his last name or how to describe him.

“He’s a friend.” She keeps telling them.

Dustin prays it’s not Eddie Tremblay from fifth grade. The little sucker doesn’t deserve to be Will’s new friend after his football landed on their rocket project last month.

“Aaaand we’re in!” He announces, hopping behind El. Mike and Lucas squish against him even though they clearly have much more space.

El closes her eyes and listens to the whining static. Then the static changes through channels, voices quickly overlapping until they get more comprehensive. Then the voices get compressed into six, four, two-

“-Control to Major Tom..”

Dustin shoots his hand forward and grabs one of the speakers. But so does Lucas and Mike and now they’re slapping each other’s hands until Lucas finally takes it and yells, “Will, can you read us? Over!”

“‘Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong..’”

At the sound of the second person, Dustin’s first thought is oh thank God, it’s not Tremblay. Then his second thought is hm, this Eddie guy sounds kinda cool. Then his third thought is oh my god, we gotta talk to Will!

“Will! Do you copy? Over!”

“Will, where are you?”

“You feeling a bit better so far?”

“Tell Eddie we’re saying hi! Who is he? Over!”

“I’m getting cold again..”

“Me too. C’mon here.”

“Will! We’re right here!”

“How the hell are they not hearing us?”

“I wish I could go home…”

“So do I…”

El gives out a painful gasp and the radio explodes into flames. Dustin manages to extinguish it before the rest of the room catches, but the fire alarm goes off.

They all stare at the now-ruined transmitter, their only chance of connecting with Will and his mysterious new friend.

—

Eddie’s definitely missing.

It’s a fact that Jeff grows more sure of every day since Wayne Munson had asked him for Eddie’s secretive hideouts.

He keeps trying to ignore the seed of dread in his stomach, but it’s impossible now with the slightly somber atmosphere in the school after the morning announcement of Will Byers’ death. The fact that Eddie hasn’t shown up for classes or in the cafeteria again today isn’t helping either.

“If Munson’s still gonna be on his bender, he should’ve at least cancelled this week’s session.”

Jeff takes a half-open Skittles bag from Maya’s tray and throws it at Evan, making the two members jump. Maya because those are her Skittles and Evan because the bag hits his chest making more pieces fly out on the table.

“Eddie’s not on a bender.” Jeff hisses at Evan. Across him, Frankie is giving him one of his Don’t-Make-This-Any-Worse looks.

Evan huffs and crosses his arms, “Oh, yeah? Then where the hell is he?”

“Definitely not on a bender of any kind!”

“Gee thanks, that clears things up.”

Jeff’s about to snap back, but Frankie discreetly kicks his leg with a warning glare. It might be a good call because Jeff doesn’t know what to say next. Another defence of Eddie, for sure, but nothing to quench the rest of the club’s antsy-ness.

“Maybe he’s gone to a concert. Like hitchhiked to Indy or Chicago?” Maya asks after picking up her spilled candy.

“But he has a van?” Daniel, the senior member of Hellfire and their current drummer, frowns pointedly.

“What concert could’ve he gone to? Is there even any band playing in this bum state?” Evan raises his eyebrows.

“I dunno, Dio?”

“They’re touring in the UK right now.” Frankie says. Jeff shoots him a bewildered look that’s the equivalent to screaming are you kidding me? Frankie gives him a Play-Along-With-It look.

“Well, that settles it.” Evan raps his knuckles on the table. “Munson’s saved a fucking ticket to the goddamned Iron Lady’s territory and is breeding chicks in Dio’s mosh pit as we speak.”

Jeff stands up, no longer feeling hungry. He throws his half-eaten sandwich at Evan. The other boy gives out a disgusted shriek as the mayonnaise hits and stains his shirt. “Dude! What-”

“Shame on you.” Jeff keeps his voice even, just quiet enough for only Hellfire to hear him. Maybe it would somehow reach Eddie wherever the hell he is right now. “The only good thing about Eddie being absent is that he isn’t ripping the skins off of you and your characters right now. Especially you, Evan.”

He stares Evan down, who visibly gulps. “Eddie took you in the club’s open arms because he saw you were a loner who needed the right people to hang out with or you would’ve been one of the bullies. And this is how you thank him?”

He looks at the rest of the members and points at them accusingly. “When Eddie comes back from whatever he’s doing, I hope that rest of y’all feel guilty for thinking he doesn’t care. Because he absolutely does.” Then he grabs his bag and leaves the cafeteria without a second thought.

Outside is chilly as usual and the breeze helps relax Jeff’s nerves. For a while at least.

He stands at the parking lot, trying to think what he should do when he hears someone running over. He looks up and groans.

“Frankie, leave me alone, man.”

“So you haven’t heard anything from Eddie?” Frankie’s voice isn’t accusing but his look might’ve been.

“No. Not since the band practice days ago.” Jeff walks away but Frankie still follows him. “Then his uncle came and asked if I knew any places Eddie frequents. I told you guys that already.”

“Doesn’t stop Evan’s stupid theories.” Frankie mutters.

“You should’ve shut him up!”

“Are you kidding? You did better than what I could’ve done.”

“Words are stronger than death looks.”

Frankie snorts. He goes quiet as they reach the end of the school parking lot. Then he says, “Are you going to search for Eddie?”

Jeff stops. Turns and stares at him. “Uh, yeah? I mean, from what he said, Wayne’s probably already doing that. So, I dunno, I’m probably gonna do the bare minimum. Like where am I going to look, dude?”

Frankie doesn’t answer. His face is strangely pale and looking at something behind Jeff. He follows his friend’s phase and feels the dread well up in his mouth when he sees a poster on a nearby telephone pole.

He doesn’t need a closer look to recognize the black and white photo of Eddie from two months ago grinning at him or the large word MISSING written in Sharpie above it.

He tries very hard not to notice that it’s stapled right below Will Byers’ already wrinkled poster.

It’s a very strong feeling to see your best friend’s missing poster a few days after you last saw him alive.

Jeff forces to tear his eyes away from Eddie’s captured monochrome cheeriness. “Know what? Fuck it. Let’s find him. Wanna start at the woods?”

—

There’s something about singing quietly in the nightscape hell mirror version of your bedroom that makes Eddie’s fingers twitch to jolt it down somewhere.

After the meltdown at the house, Will had grew more quiet. Eddie had rocked him until Will complained of motion sickness and then Eddie had held him even when they slept.

After piggybacking the kid and singing “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?” (at least until Eddie admitted death by earworms and convinced a change to “Space Oddity”) on the way back to Forest Hills, Will seemed to be back in his original spirits. Still quiet but no longer on the verge of tears next to Eddie. Although his coughs started to sound more wet and shook his small frame like a leaf.

Eddie prays to god that he can speak to Wayne this time. He hopes his uncle to come up with a cooler code system than Mrs. Byers and maybe get them out somehow.

But the trailer is quiet, save for Will’s whistled breathing as he sleeps in Eddie’s arms, the old itchy quilt cocooning them both. He has to stay up. Keep a lookout for the demogorgon in this hell land and for Wayne in the real world. But he feels so tired. If he can rest his eyes for just a moment…

The sound of muffled crying wakes him up.

—

The longer Wayne stares at the posters, the bigger the impulse to rip them up grows.

After Hopper left, he had went back inside and started on making the Missing posters for Eddie. The hardest part of it had been trying to find the right photo of his nephew and he had held back tears at how much Eddie had grown. How happier he looks.

He had printed copies at the library, keeping his head down from curious and pitying eyes. Christi Waldon was nice enough not to charge him for the fees.

Then he started putting the posters up and Wayne had felt like he was making a mistake.

Nobody never said anything how difficult it is to go around town again, putting a poster with your child’s face silently begging strangers who may disliked them to find them, and to do all of this without the police helping.

Wayne had printed 100 copies. He only managed to put up 18 of them before it became too much and hurried home.

Now there’s a pile of 82 posters with Eddie’s face staring up at him on the table. Wayne can’t bring himself to rip them up no matter what his mind demands it. He has a new superstition that if he does, Eddie will never be found alive.

He checks the time. Seeing it’s only after six, he sighs heavily and takes out his cigarette. He’s briefly overcome with the memory of catching a fourteen year old Eddie trying to smoke and how his smart cookie of a nephew swallowed the lit cigarette, immediately threw up, and sobbed while Wayne had to sit down so he wouldn’t break his own ass from laughing so far. After they’d both calmed down, Wayne showed him how to smoke properly and said-

He said…

What did he say?

Something erupts from his mouth. He clamps a hand over, suddenly worrying that he just got sick. But there’s no taste of bile. Only wet salt. He takes his hand off and, ah. He’s crying.

Wayne gives a wet laugh. Then it gasps into another sob. He covers his mouth again, unable to hold the tears back.

Above him, the lights flicker.

It feels almost comforting.

Wayne sniffs, watching as the bulbs hang on to its dear life of electricity. Then one of the lamps next to the couch start flickering as well. Slow and rhythmic.

The sadness does go away, but it makes Wayne feel the back of his neck hairs stand up.

—

Eddie drops his hand from the lights, stomping over to the phone. “Fuck this, now’s the chance.”

Will glances at him from where he’s crouching by the lights, still tired from being jostled awake so soon, “Eddie?”

He turns to him and says, “Little Byers the Vanished, how does one make a landline in the Vale of Shadows?”

“You, uh, just pick it up-”

Eddie does exactly that.

“Wait! It won’t even last-!”

—

The phone rings with a shrill.

Wayne snaps his head over to it. He’s breathing slowly, watching the landline like it’s his childhood spider.

The atmosphere in his trailer feels suddenly colder. As if there are ghosts present. Waiting.

The phone rings and rings until it gets to voicemail, his gruff message for the last decade. “You’ve reached the Munsons. Leave a message after the beep.”

There’s nothing after the beep.

Wayne looks at the lights again. The ceiling light has stopped but ones over the kitchen and door are flickering this time.

The phone rings again.

He stands up slowly, walking over to the phone. It rings louder to his ears now. He tries to ignore the sudden sense of a presence behind and beside him as he picks the phone up and holds it to his ear.

He hears static as if the caller has a bad connection.

He clears his throat and speaks, “Wayne Munson speakin’.”

The static crackles with some kind of harsh breathing. It’s loud to make Wayne cringe away and hang up-

“..Wayne..”

He freezes. The anxiety vanishes in an instant. “..Eddie?” He chokes out.

“..Wayne!”

“Oh my lord…” Wayne clutches the phone closer. “You’re alive, right? Eddie! Tell me where are you!”

“..I’m-”

The phone bursts into literal shock. He drops it with a yell and it clatters to the ground, dead.

That was him. That was Eddie’s voice.

Breathing raggedly, Wayne’s gaze snaps up to the lamps flashing maniacally. The air around him feels desperate and sinks down upon him. Anxiety comes back as quick as it comes, squashing on the brief spot of hope he felt.

“Nah, fuck this.” He mutters as he swipes his keys and runs out of the door. He can’t deal with more ghosts at this hour.

—

“Nonono—NO!”

Eddie slams his hands against the lights too hard. The pulsing glass bulbs nearly crack under the pressure.

None of it stops the sound of the truck engine starting.

“Wayne, it’s me! Can’t you hear me?!” Eddie’s throat is already dry from screaming, but he doesn’t care about it. “UNCLE WAYNE! JUST STOP AND LISTEN TO ME!”

He runs outside to the ever barren yard. He tries not to think about Wayne leaving just like how his dad did in his very last visit. How he had tried to chase after his dad’s car until Wayne stopped him. How he had been a crying mess while Wayne told him that both of them will stay together from now on.

“WAYNE, PLEASE! YOU PROMISED TO STAY!”

The truck drives away, farther and farther. If Eddie can catch him-

His lungs constrict themselves again. He stumbles, scraping his knees and palms on the ground. He coughs, gulping in too many shaky breaths that almost tastes like glass shards. He calls out-

“Come back! Come back!”

It comes out as a hoarse whisper.

His throat hurts.

The truck disappears. The sounds of the trailers’ muted everyday life and his own painful wheezing replace it.

Eddie is vaguely aware of Will shuffling up next to him and wrapping his arms around his shaking shoulders.

-

Taglist: @unclewaynemunson @steves-strapcollection @hellion-child @sidekick-hero @mmmmwaffles94 @demolitionjetstar @hbyrde36 @princessstevemunson @sirsnacksalot @tartarusknight @lyriclight @kodaik97 @plsdontdrinkmylavalamp @bookbinderbitch @gutterflower77 @soaringornithopter @angeldreamsoffanfic @panicatthediaz @renaissan-vvitch @manda-panda-monium @newtstabber @little-trash-ghost

[upslapmeal]

Boom

So I had vaguely seen things about Moffat coming back, but I'd always interpreted the 'next' series as being... the NEXT series. after the upcoming one. anyway BIG ol' surprise in the opening titles lol

are these those anglican marines back from what?? s5? s6?

....is this a flashback? I think those guys had the same name

we're finding out he swapped a duty and now he's injured

oh wait it’s not a flashback lmao

this is where being bad at faces fails me

is this an american ambulance situation where they cost too much and ruin your life?

ah

they ruin your life in another significant way

‘villengard’ assuming this is pre-bananas lol

*dramatically throws open tardis doors* 'someone needs me!!!'

Fifteen’s theme is so good

Moffat??????? well that explains the anglican marines

Fifteen is excellent at answering questions. shame they're not the questions Ruby is asking

‘one wrong move and boom’ eyy title drop

when can Twelve and Fifteen bond over capitalism and being scottish

‘i’m not even screaming. yet.’ yeah

‘it’s going to be tricky’ ‘it’s going to be a MOMENT YEAH’

gotta think of health and safety at war what can I say! only the finest ventilated air before our ambulances murder you

Ruby on her first planet <3 (though only now after 6 months?? Fifteen you've been slacking clearly!)

‘he was being sMELTED??’ ‘it’s a good word smelted’ 'NOT AT THE MOMENT???’ obviously Fifteen's not having the best time but poor Ruby lmao

‘ooooh I am. havin’ a day 🙃🙃’ never has a Doctor been so me. minus the landmine.

Ruby don’t make the Doctor laugh when he’s balancing on one leg!!

oh man the Doctor really IS having a day

ok those soldiers are definitely not the same guy lol but I could have sworn they had the same name!

‘everything is possible. everywhere is a beach eventually’ RIP Mundy left out of that lil callback to earlier

Ruby grabbing the gun, shooting it and yelling is v much banging the pipes in Space Babies lol

love that her instinct is make noise and yell, think later

meanwhile Splice is chilling with her lil photo album

…did I mishear shoot me little bitch??

oh lol ‘shoot me a little bit'

nooo Ruby!!

‘I can’t think unless I’m talking and I can only talk to you’ oh that is VERY Twelve Clara

and also a lot to put on someone you’ve known for so little time that they’re only just seeing their first planet RIP

Fifteen: do you get it do you get it!! Ruby: 😴

'there are no Kastarions’ big Doctor’s Daughter vibes

Thirteen: have faith!!! <3 Fifteen: >:(

love fifteen giving his big speech with snot running down his lip. giving Nine in Dalek

‘how much of the countdown left’ ‘3 minutes maybe’ I mean you said 5 minutes 4 minutes ago

speaking of which what is the point of assessing for life and having a countdown if it just blows anyway

(to give it flashy lights and features I know)

bud I appreciate the romance going on here but now is maybe not the time

oh yeah very much not the time

…..delighted that Ruby hasn’t been smelted. yet.

(.....also 3 minutes have now passed. where is the boom the title promised!!)

the deaths are stacking up and Splice is just having the best chill time lol

oh the ambulance is the twist lady!

just for the record it took that failsafe 8 minutes to trigger

lol poor confused Ruby. honestly rude to die and miss the action

there’s the closeup from the trailer!!

who knew that serene deep breath came shortly after prolonged near death by landmine

‘he’s not gone. he’s just dead’ <3

‘you keep the faith Splice’ there we go

‘snow isn’t snow until it falls’ maybe it’s just my love for Twelve’s era but I’ve been endeared to these nonsense Moffatisms lol

ok looking at the credits those characters have different names but they're still similar! you can’t have two characters with similar names played by incredibly similar-looking people and expect us to tell them apart??

WAIT HANG ON

varada sethu????? as in new companion???????

is Mundy coming back?????? or is this a Karen Gillan situation?

Really enjoyed this one!! Easily my fave of the first three, very tense and WHAT a showcase for Ncuti!!! Absolute powerhouse. However. On rewatch I really did notice how much Ruby was written like Clara lol. Ah Moff you've got your strengths and weaknesses like us all

[spacemagicandlaserswords]

The Clone Wars 4.09 ‘Plan of Dissent’ Reaction Take 2

I think out of all of the episodes from the Umbara arc, this is my favourite. If it’s possible to have a favourite with everything that happens. There’s so much of the clones themselves in this episode. So much of their interactions and personalities and characteristics and lives.

Hello to Fives' very nice thighs and crotch. There’s just something about a clone lying on their back, legs splayed, knee bent, as they do mechanical work on the underneath of a ship. Insert your own references to the 2 nickels meme here. Also inserting the gif of Tech doing the exact same thing because I can.

There are definitely moments where Fives voice gets husky and it is very nice. I am not complaining at all.

Obi-Wan is looking rather boxy there

Krell completely changes when he’s talking to someone with equal or more power than him. Slimy bastard.

I know they mean arms as in weapons but every time they say ‘arm’ all can picture is crates full of actual arms.

That tiny head shake from Rex. He is so done.

Ugh that look up from Rex. Ugh.

Ahahahaha it definitely looks like Fives is about to burst into an earnest and deeply emotional ballad in the music video as part of his 90s boy band. So, the important questions are: Who are the rest of the members of this clone boy band? And what is their name? These things, I must know them.

Look at Rex’s big beautiful brown eyes there

Paused the episode only to realise Jesse has an exclamation mark on the front of his chest plate.

Tup waving his space screwdriver grabby thingy around to make his point. I think it’s a calliper? It looks similar to the one Tech has on his belt or in one of his 2000 pockets. Just noticed Tup has the same hairline as Tech too.

“I do think his desire for victory has blinded him to the fact that there are lives at stake. I’ve never seen a General with these kind of casualties.” – I love this moment from Jesse. Especially because he doesn’t go after Dogma, he just calmly but firmly points out what isn’t right about this situation. The adorable nose scrunch is also out in full force.

“I don’t have a better plan.” Rex, you always have a better plan

Fives: Why don’t we just do the same thing we did before!

Lmao Fives’ little chaos face as he explains his plan

Gif by @nickleister from this glorious post

REX THIGH

That ‘do it’ from Rex was very Palpatine of him

“Yeah, he wasn’t really flying. More like avoiding crashing.” Tup going for the jugular there

Omg that was not subtle at all. “What’s going on?” “Eh, nothing.” *awkward*

Oh, Rex and Fives are fighting. That line from Fives about them all being not just another number really hit home too.

I know this is supposed to be a serious moment and all that but omg Fives is built like an absolute unit. Boy is thicc.

Well this is going well. Fives, why are you standing underneath the fighter that Hardcase is barely able to control?

Fives: Hardcase, what are you doing?! Hardcase: If I knew, I wouldn’t be doing it! CACKLING

Who's the random clone helping out Fives and Hardcase? They’ve got different paint but I can’t tell who they are.

“Great, this can’t get much worse” Well now you’ve gone and jinxed it

Oh, so that’s where that shot of Fives standing there comes from. Who knew the absolute chaos that was going on behind as Fives stands there looking all gorgeous.

Fives: “Nothing’s out of control down here.” Hardcase: *actively destroying everything*

Omg the absolutely over the top agonised full eye and body roll that Fives gives while he draws out a long “Uh” to try and come up with a cover story for what they’re doing. 

That has got to be a homage or reference to Han Solo doing basically the same thing in A New Hope.

“That’s gonna leave a mark.” Hardcase, you just melted the door!

“No harm done.” Says Hardcase, standing amongst the ruin he has just created

Absolutely losing it at Hardcase’s cover story for what they were getting up to. To be fair to him, he actually sold it fairly well and it was a decently believable cover story to come up with on the spot. Fives, on the other hand, cannot lie to save himself. Rex is not falling for his bullshit one bit.

Aaaaaaaaaah Hardcase’s little wiggly sneaky fingers. You utterly adorable dork. He looks so pleased with his idea at the end too. It’s the best idea guys!

Hardcase is in. He wants chaos.

Anakin telling Fives that the trick to taking out a control ship is to hit the main reactor from the inside? Well that’s totally not going to come back and bite him in his shiny black asthmatic arse in approximately 20 cycles or so. 

Jesse and Hardcase’s doubtful scrunched up faces as the listen to Fives’ “plan” are utterly adorable

"I can’t help you, when you get caught." — That exchange between Fives and Rex definitely sounds like Rex has put up Fives’ crazy bullshit before. And you can tell how much Rex cares and knows this is the right thing to do yet he’s stuck and he can’t do anything to help them or protect them when the shit hits the fan.

If those fighters are supposed to be locked down, then why are they conveniently sitting outside?

I found this scene of Dogma and Tup in the barracks really uncomfortable. I’ve been trying to reserve judgement on Dogma and not be so harsh on him because I know what happens in the end and he seems like a fan favourite. But it really felt like he was bullying Tup into snitching on Fives, Jesse and Hardcase. I don’t know what Dogma and Tup’s connection to each other is. They seem fairly close so I’m going with close or best friends, if not batch mates. I know Dogma thinks he’s doing the right thing (I know, please don’t come at me) but it felt really uncomfortable watching him bully his best friend/batch mate and vod into doing what he wanted. I think I’m reacting to this so much because I relate to Tup so much. The constant anxious worry. Being bullied and peer pressured into doing things you don’t want to do (hello school trauma). Out of everything that has happened, and a lot of truly awful things happen in this arc, it felt like this was the worst thing Dogma did. Even if he didn’t mean it, that doesn’t excuse it. 

Paused the episode at the start of the next scene and Rex is standing there in the dark looking down at his datapad and fuck me is he a tall glass of water.

The look on Rex’s face when he sees Fives, Jesse and Hardcase fly off in the fighters! I mentioned this in my first reaction post but man, is that a multi-layered expression. Deep long suffering at putting up with their bullshit. Admiration and respect that the crazy bastards went and did it. Worry and concern about what they’re about to do and how they’re all going to deal with the fall out. And probably a bit of satisfaction and amusement that it’s going to piss off Krell.

“I’m just doing it for fun!” Hardcase knows what he’s about

Well that’s a shit fight

Is that a blimp?

Fives, telling Hardcase not to get an itchy trigger finger is like telling you not to be a chaotic little shit. Utterly pointless

Omg the supply ship is even sphere shaped, just with a giant rectangle in the middle. It’s just a B-grade Death Star.

“I’m sure the report will make your strategy more effective.” Rex you sly bastard

So I know everyone says clones can’t lie to save themselves but Rex was pretty damn believable right there, covering for Fives, Jesse and Hardcase. It didn’t feel like a cover story that was made up on the spot either, so Rex had to have come up with it already. He knew they were going to go off on their own hair brained mission, and, even though he was disagreeing with Fives, he still came up with a way to cover for them and protect them as best he could. So he’s bloody smart and cares deeply too. Ugh, I love him so much.

Rex running interference for Fives, Jesse and Hardcase

“Regarding, what?” CACKLING

“Yeah, that’s what I thought.” asdf;lkj why are you so badass. Though it does feel sad that all of this has started to pit the clones against each other. And doesn’t that come back in an even worse way later on.

Oh look, it’s a trench run to a reactor! I wonder where we’ve seen this before!

That tactical droid didn’t consider Fives in his equations

Oh man as soon as Hardcase’s fighter got hit, that was the moment you knew he wasn’t coming back. 

That gesture Fives made to stop his fighter made him look like he was using the Force

Nooooo Hardcase what are you doing

“This is for the 501st. Don’t wait for me.” *sobs*

Hardcase calls Fives sir. Again, I am baffled as to what the rank system is here, though I’m assuming ARC Troopers are at least above standard clone troopers in some way?

“If I know Hardcase, we better leave.” That speaks to a lot of experience with Hardcase making things going boom

“Live to fight another day.” Dammit now I can’t see the screen through the tears. Hardcase had a little happy smile on his face too.

Guys, you only blew up half of it! Though I should imagine the rest of it went up too.

That smirk from Rex. He knew.

Very interesting that Tup’s here with Rex. I wonder if Rex took him aside after intercepting him and Dogma or if Tup came to Rex.

It’s a tiny moment but Fives jumps out of the fighter and there’s a shot of his feet and legs landing on the ground and his kama is swooshing around his legs looking all badass

Rex’s look of concern when he sees only Fives and Jesse. He knew.

Oh Hardcase

It’s an equally blink and you’ll miss it moment but this is where that gif of Rex glaring over his shoulder comes from. I think this is going to be like the “On your knees” moment for me. Definitely hot in isolation but now knowing that Fives and Jesse just told Rex and Tup that Hardcase died, it’s going to take me a while to separate what’s happening in the moment from the hot glare.

Rex trying to take the blame for Fives and Jesse and then Fives refusing to accept this and making sure Rex and Jesse don’t get hurt and the agonised way Rex says “Fives!” and Jesse’s worried expression the whole time and just aaaaaaaaaaah *pained noises*

“Oh, do you?” I hate Krell even more. Piss off you overblown bullfrog

Being executed for disobeying orders seems way too steep. I could understand being reprimanded but shooting someone because they didn’t do what they were told? At least Krell gets what’s coming from him in the end.

[m4ndysk4nkovich]

VERY LONG shameless headcanon: rotc ian

so we know that ian joined rotc when he was in 7th/8th grade, but we also know he had a g.i. joe as a kid, and i get that’s not an uncommon toy but it made me decide that ian always wanted to be a soilder.

like, we know that monica was a military brat. her father served for his country, and so she must’ve known a lot about the military. we also know that she hated her father, and frank says that monica’s parents ruined her.

so lets say one day shortly after little debbie gallagher was born grandpa bill (as he insists on being called) goes into the gallagher house, demanding to see his four grandchildren. he’s a very cruel man who judges them for their poverty, but as he starts to ramble on about his experiences in the marines, however, ian is extremely interested unlike the rest of them. he can tell.

ian asks him questions and he answers, and they’re all surpised by the change of tone in grandpa bill’s voice. he sounds much more loving and sweet when talking to ian, monica grumbles something about how he never talked to me like that when i was ian’s age.

grandpa bill leaves the house, complaining about how disgusting it is, and shows up only one more time (the only time after being his daughter’s funeral in twenty years or so) to give ian a present, a g.i. joe.

the gallagher’s didn’t get the luxury of toys, the only other toy that ian had was a teddy bear that he got from the hospital when he was born, which was now missing an eye, some stuffing, and was soaked in piss and sweat. so when ian got this g.i. joe he was so excited and would not let go of it. he kept it in his arms for an entire day, once, while eating breakfast, at school, on the bus, at dinner, in the bath, then to bed. it was his. so when he lost it on the train one day, he started sobbing so hard he was hyperventilating. frank called him a drama queen and monica was too high on coke or whatever she had taken to care, so they refused to go and find it, frank yelled at him for losing it in the first place, saying it was irresponsible. lip ended up somehow getting it back for ian, which made ian love his brother so much more. this was the day ian realized that lip was more paternal than frank was.

he stopped playing with the g.i. joe in third grade, and gave it to carl. when he found it years later it was all melted and gross. in fourth grade, he started playing football and basketball to get stronger for the army. his parents never went to any of his games, but kev and v did. kev was the one who got him onto the teams anyways (he coached basketball and knew the football coach).

in seventh grade, he was able to do jrotc, which he did. and he was great at it. so great that he decided that he was definitely going to not only be a soilder, but an officer. and he would also go to military school, preferably a really good one, like west point. that was around the time when he started doing 200 push-ups before school.

in tenth grade he used is rotc skills to impress linda. the summer before eleventh grade he began studying like crazy for west point, but found out that lip got in. in eleventh grade, he built that “fuckin’ obstacle training course thing” as mickey called it on the roof of an abandoned building. only mickey knew about it. he dropped out before twelfth grade, and didn’t go to west point. he instead joined the military, attempted to steal a helicopter, injured his hand, ran away, and became a stripper. a year later he was in military prison.

when carl gets into military school and starts waking up early and running with ian every morning, ian can’t help but feel a bit jealous because that was supposed to be him. but he pretends that he’s not and watches as his little brother follows in his footsteps- kind of. really the only way he actually follows in ian’s footsteps is by getting rejected from west point, which if carl actually got into, ian might have actually gone insane.

the end that’s a super long headcanon i didn’t even mean for it to be that long i should write a fic on this

[mrsnancywheeler]

HEAR ME OUT

Because why is Finnick and his sweet girl’s teenage love lowkey ‘All Too Well’ coded?

“I walked through the door with you, the air was cold”

So to me this is when Finnick realised he had to end things with his sweet girl. The air of their relationship was warm and cosy, but now it’s cold and lifeless after Snow had left his effect. Finnick wasn’t the only one who felt the cold, reader did too :( she knew something was up when the warmth that Finnick usually radiated was now turned to ice.

“And I know it's long gone and that magic's not here no more And I might be okay but I'm not fine at all”

This is both Finnick and his sweet girl still trying to come to terms that it’s over, even years after it happened. They both act okay around their friends and to the public eye, but in reality they aren’t fine at all. They’re broken without eachother because they’re literally endgame. Finnick and his sweet girl are the definition of ‘right person, wrong time’.

“'Cause there we are again on that little town street You almost ran the red 'cause you were lookin' over at me”

SYMBOLISM. Finnick literally almost ran the red light with Snow and the Capitol because he was too focused on his sweet girl. He was so caught up in her that he didn’t realise the green light of the Capitol’s approval slowly turning yellow to red.

“You told me 'bout your past thinking your future was me”

tears are falling. He told his sweet girl everything about his past (except the whole selling part). He told her because he knew his future was with her, except Snow took that knowledge and stomped the fuck out of it.

“And I know it's long gone and there was nothing else I could do And I forget about you long enough to forget why I needed to”

They were both so powerless in their situation, there was nothing either of them could do. Finnick’s sweet girl wanted to forget about him, but at the same time she didn’t. She’d still stare longingly at him while forgetting that if she doesn’t forget about him, the pain will only come back harder, especially when she sees him with other girls who desperately wish for him to look at them the same way he looks at his sweet girl😭

“And maybe we got lost in translation Maybe I asked for too much But maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up”

sweet girl’s inner monologue after their break up. She was genuinely questioning if she did ask for too much, but also questioning why Finnick would say so many things about her to his friends if he was really trying to protect her. Their love was genuinely a masterpiece, they’re literally soulmates, even their break up was relatively peaceful until Finnick decided to break his sweet girl even more with his words.

Anyway that’s it, have a good day pookie!

-🌺anon

especially bc they never thought they were gonna get to be together again so it was like their story abruptly ended with so much pining left for one another

Snow literally always ruins everything, all the sweet, innocent teenage love they've had for each other he tears it away. the air is warm between them because they balance each other, finnick is always hot, she is always cold, so together they make a perfect cozy warmth. the very nature of their body temperatures working with the others is stripped away when snow leaves no choice except to be cold, withdrawn.

the enchantment they used to find in one another can only be replicated in longing glances, gifts she doesn't know he gave, and it can't be done with anyone else. reader still lives her life, she has friends even if she has less social interaction, she's still herself, but she's so broken on the inside, longing for him back. and he's kept his persona as well as he can but he's desperate for her again.

YES, you're so right. like people notice when he's supposed to be focused on them that his mind is elsewhere, he's so occupied thinking about getting home to his sweet girl and it causes trouble. snow has to strike fear into him to cause him to be as he once was.

they were so comfortable with each other, at home, fated to be one, and yet they were convinced that now it could never be. that the whole life where the promised to be the things that their past had lacked would never happen.

when he said that he couldn't explain why, but he did it to protect her, she accepted it because she believed him, she trusted him. and now she's been ripped of the warmth she once had. the pain is definitely indescribable everytime she sees him with other girls at the market or the rumours about him being player. she doesn't want to be jealous of them getting to feel his arm around them, but she does, and tries to make him feel the same which she does successfuly. but neither fill the void of needed to be with each other

when he said he wanted to protect her that's exactly what she heard, but suddenly that wasn't the story. suddenly she was pushy, clingy, needy and it was mind boggling to hear the new narrative he was weaving. was he just too kind to say it to her face so he'd left first? but they're so insanely meant to be, it felt so right so it doesn't make sense.

some choice lines I also think hold some relevance to their story

"and you call me up again just to break me like a promise, so causally cruel in the name of being honest."

makes me think of what readers thought process may have been like in the newest chapter of the river

"time won't fly, it's like I'm paralyzed by it. I'd like to be old self again,but I'm still trying to find it"

post-games behavior fr

"and did the twin flame paint you blue? just between us did the love affair maim you too? cause in this city's barren cold, I still remember the first fall of snow and how it glistened as it fell, I remember it all too well. "

I don't feel like that needs an explanation

love you pookie, you too 💋💋💋

[fairrytype]

the plan; a pokeshipping fanfic~

the plan.

Being followed by her isn’t how he plans his journey to start. None of it is technically part of the plan. The fact that his first Pokemon is not one of the three he’s dreamed of and battled with in his imagination, the fact it is a Pikachu who refuses to look at him let alone listen instead- also not a part of it. The way Pikachu is then injured and he spends his first day of his journey running for his life wasn’t anywhere in the outline. But Ash can forgive that because at 10 years old, this is a fragment of his adventure which is, in theory, part of the plan. Even the pain and the way he nearly drowns and the look on Pikachu’s face can be excused somewhere in it because Pikachu is fine now. Pikachu is his best friend now. 

But being fished out of drowning and rescued, being slapped and scolded and then accidentally frying a bike that is apparently the prized possession of a girl with a short temper who then follows him for the last six weeks; he’s not so sure about that being anywhere near the plan. 

She’s weird. She goes from one extreme to the other since the moment she properly got to introduce herself. Screaming in his face and smacking his hand away when he tries to help her up because despite everything going on he does feel crappy about the situation, then dropping the act all together and putting her hands up in a worried plea, asking if his Pokemon is okay the moment he says something. He supposes they at least have that in common. She seems to have a genuine love for Pokemon. Even if he does find her fear of bug Pokemon irritating, she's not going out of her way to harm them. It’s more like she comes to his harm getting away from them.

Ash doesn’t pay too much attention to her presence anymore. Misty is just kind of there now, and they have fallen into this back and forth they have only managed to drop three or four times so far. Brock told him a few days earlier that one of them always ruins it, and Brock has only been with them for two weeks but he thinks it’s probably true. Maybe. He doesn’t really know.

Because Misty is weird, and thinking about her in general is annoying. Because he doesn’t think about it too much, he also doesn’t think about what things would be like if they had met under different circumstances. So really, he doesn’t know why he’s staring at her as she hugs her knees on the opposite side of the campfire. Or why it should even concern him that she looks kind of upset or why Pikachu is sitting at her feet tonight and not his. He’s out here on a journey to be a Pokemon Master, not worrying about why the girl who follows him doesn’t even seem to like him let alone why he wants her to. He’ll get her dumb bike back soon enough and she’ll be gone; he has no idea how but so far things have been working out pretty well if he just tries enough. He has a Gym badge and two Pokemon now which has definitely been part of his plan. A bike is no big deal.

Brock nudges him in the side then, and he’s thankful it rips his attention away because he wants to look some stuff up in his dex anyway about Zubat. It has just joined Brock’s crew of Pokemon and is currently flapping near the pot he’s been cooking at. Ash gives Brock a glance to see if he'll mind but his new friend is simply tilting his head towards the space across from them quietly with concern on his brows. 

“What?” He asks, dusting his hands together where they’d started to get clammy for some reason. 

Brock tilts his head again. Ash frowns at him, following where he’s looking. It’s just Misty on the other side of camp, and he thinks maybe he’s asking him to pick their tin’s from dinner up so he grabs his and starts to stand when Brock sighs loudly. He pinches the bridge of his nose for a moment and shakes his head the same way he’s seen grown-ups do when they’re getting kind of annoyed or something. Ash narrows his eyes in question.

Brock sighs again. 

“Misty.” Brock says after a moment, not looking at Ash and he finds himself frowning deeper as he turns his gaze back to her. Her head is down and buried in her arms over her knees, but she shifts in acknowledgement. “Are you Okay?”

It clicks for Ash and he makes a little noise, almost saying ‘oh’. So he wasn’t imagining something was off with her after all. Though he doesn’t really get the big deal or why it needs addressing or for them to talk in whispers or weird looks because she’s right there and asking her is what has ended up happening anyway, he slouches forward with an arm on his own knee and his chin in his hand to watch if Misty is actually Okay. Though she is quieter this way it does just feel kind of weird that she hasn’t made some quip about him all night.

“ ‘m fine.” She mumbles a response. 

She sounds Okay. Fine is better than not fine, so Ash nods to Brock. Brock shakes his head silently at him and his mouth pulls to the side in a tight lipped smile. He crosses the space between them, putting a hand on Misty’s shoulder that makes her jump a little. Ash wonders briefly why it’s so easy for Brock who has only known her two weeks to touch her so casually and not get smacked away when she stays still, sways a little from left to right. 

“Pikachupi.” Pikachu rubs its face against her ankle. Ash’s eyes fall to his Pokemon as he tries to understand and he feels himself slump further forward.

“You can tell us.” Brock speaks like he is speaking for both of them and Ash has to resist pulling a face because honestly he doesn’t want to hear about girl problems even if he wants to know what’s going on. 

“Leave me alone guys, please.” Her voice is strained. He doesn’t think he’s ever heard Misty say please- not to them at least. Maybe to Brock when she wants more food. Or to someone that isn’t him that they’ve met who she’s all sweet and kind to in a voice she definitely doesn’t use with him. He catches Brock's eyes back on him when she simply scoops Pikachu up with her head still down and walks to a tree bordering the clearing they have found. She hugs the Pokemon to her chest, her back not far from them.

Ash shrugs at him, part of him feeling betrayed by Pikachu for not putting up a fight to stay by his side but part of him thinking it’s probably better she hugs whatever is going out on his Pokemon than shout it out at him. 

“I guess we should give her some space.” Brock mutters, shaking his head. He gathers their dishes to wash out and mumbles something to himself. It leaves Ash at the fire alone with the presence of Misty known, not far from him and soon his knee bounces in an anxious jig. 

He shouldn’t even care. Misty doesn’t care when he’s down- she comes and taunts him and pulls a tongue and eggs him on. He guesses maybe she does help him in some ways but they’re not out of her being nice. She kind of points things out that could say she cared. Like with Brock’s badge and her insistence he takes her advice. Even that feels like a stretch, but Ash peers over his shoulder slowly because he doesn’t want her to see him looking and thinks he cares because he doesn’t- the same way she wouldn’t- but Misty has her back to him still and he can see Pikachu’s ears over her arms. 

His gut bubbles and he tells himself that if this is something that’s going to slow down their next stop he supposes it does matter. When he stands up he is oblivious to the way Brock stares at him crossing the clearing, closing the gap between himself and Misty. He is aware he is feeling very shy all of a sudden though and is almost grateful that she must feel his presence because she sighs and speaks without looking back.

“I told you to go away.” 

Not for the first time, Ash immediately feels very stupid for trying and is reminded why he doesn’t. He shoves his hands in his jacket pockets, scowling at the back of her hair he has just noticed is down.  “Actually you told us to leave you alone.”  

“Then listen to either of them.” Misty huffs, but it lacks her usual kick and it makes the response he hasn’t really thought out die in his throat. 

He shuffles a shoe in the gravel instead. “Whatever then.”

“Good.” She sniffs. 

“Just don’t keep Pikachu too late.” Ash grumbles. He hopes she doesn’t think she’s won something because he’s backing down. “We have a Gym battle tomorrow, remember?”

Misty’s shoulders tense. She turns to him so quickly he almost falls back when she hands Pikachu off to him like a bag.

"I won't be there so knock yourself out." She exhales through her nose that is now in the air. If it weren’t for the way her shoulder smacks into his as she walks past he’d swear she’d disappeared at how soon she’s gone from his sight. He is left with Pikachu, who seems to be scowling at him and Ash just frowns back a question and rubs the top of his arm, choosing to tend to it over the sting of her words.  

He doesn’t get it, and when he gets back to the fire Brock is starting to tidy up. Misty had laid her sleeping bag as far as possible from them earlier and Brock offers him a gaze that is somewhat uncomfortable when she storms in that direction. Why is everyone looking at him like he’s done something wrong when she’s the one in a bad mood? He rolls his eyes out and gets his Pokedex out before Zubat is called back in, and his evening improves for it. Brock talks with him in quiet voices for a while about the new Gym they’re visiting tomorrow and they put the fire out together, apparently his older friend is still appalled at the way they’d been doing it before he joined and now insists he makes sure it's done right every night. Brock seems good at stuff like that so he gladly takes the help and when Ash pulls his sleeping bag out he has almost forgotten about Misty’s thing.

Almost. Kind of.

Pikachu joins him when he plops down and he lets himself glance over for the first time since she’s barged away because he is pretty sure she’s asleep by now. Either that or she’s snuck off to really be alone, to really find a way to not be there tomorrow and left them for good because there hasn’t been a noise from her side of the clearing all night. She is curled tight in a position he doesn’t think can be comfortable and an unfamiliar warmth fills his chest. Misty is still there, even if she isn’t supposed to be; even if she isn’t part of the plan. 

Ash finds he is smiling and he scowls, and then he falls asleep focusing so hard on how he wants to dream about their next stop; Cerulean Gym.

fairy here: hey!! i wanted to write some stuff from ash's pov for a while. this may be a little series of him growing up and how he see's misty so if it feels a little bitter and not a lot sweet, it's just the beginning.

misty is knowing they're heading towards cerulean but finding out for sure its there the next day~

[starsstuddedsky]

New Year’s Eve

reader x soonyoung

summary: how do you find a last minute partner on new year's eve when your friends spontaneously betray you to find partners of their own... OR what happens when you kiss a (not so) stranger

genre: fluff, fluff, fluff

warnings: alcohol mention, puke mention, language, let me know if i missed anything!

wc: 1.2k

a/n: this fic singlehandedly brought me out of my little fit of writer's block and made me like my writing again lol it's very silly but it makes me happy :) hopefully it does the same for you!

Music plays so loud that you can’t hear your own thoughts, but for tonight you enjoy it. You weren’t drunk, but you weren’t sober either, the perfect balance to dance around the club on the arms of your friends.

You smile as you jump to the rhythm, definitely not the best dancer but enjoying yourself nevertheless. You bump into Seungkwan one too many times and he tries to settle you, shouting something that you lose over the pounding bass that your heart beats along to.

5 minutes to midnight.

You have to pee. You shout in Mingyu’s ear that you’re going to the bathroom, pushing your way through the crowd, finally breaking to the edge where people were either too shy to join the mass of people or too drunk to stand up on their own, swaying to the rhythm.

You’re farther away from the speakers and the music sounds more like noise than anything else. You dance a little to try to keep your tipsy state (and to avoid peeing on the floor).

By the time you make it in and pee, and help the person puking clean up, and clean yourself up a little, the clock is ticking down from one minute. You peer from the edge of the crowd, definitely mostly sober, trying to find your friends. With one minute to midnight, you finally spot them at the center of the dance floor, because of course they are. You brace yourself to push through the crowd, apologizing as you bounce off of more than a couple people.

At thirty seconds, you are almost back, but you feel the unmistakable sensation of something being poured down your arm. The person apologizes immediately, though they’re really too drunk to realize that they almost ruined your cute new years outfit.

You debate returning to the bathroom to clean up again but there’s fifteen seconds until midnight and you can see your friends. You push through the crowd with new determination, reaching Seungkwan just as the countdown starts.

That’s when you realize they’ve already found someone to kiss.

Since when do your friends kiss at midnight? You’re practically fuming when you see them paired off with strangers, leaving you alone at seven, six, five, four, three!

A hand at your elbow.

Two!

Eyes that you recognize, a name floating somewhere in your head.

One!

A raise of his eyebrows in question and you think, fuck it, wrapping your arms around his neck, his hands finding your waist. In a second his lips are on yours and you’re expecting it to be messy and uncontrolled but he is gentle, barely parting your lips with his, and pulling away after a heartbeat.

You remember where you are when you hear the cheering. You’re still in his arms, your own wrapped around his neck, and you don’t feel particularly inclined to let go any time soon.

Soonyoung. That’s his name, you remember. A friend of a friend, someone you’d met a couple times before tonight. Someone you now hoped you would be seeing a lot more of.

He’s staring down at you, eyes flickering between your lips and eyes. Though almost everyone had gone back to dancing, the pair of you are frozen in the middle of the chaos. You’re tempted to press another kiss to his perfect lips, and then you think why not and pull him to you again, and this kiss is messier, jostled by the people around you shoving you, forcing you to pull away after a couple seconds.

You want to kiss him again and again and again but when you look at him, Soonyoung smiles and you think maybe you have all the time in the world. He leans forward, whispering something in your ear that you can’t hear though his breath brushing against your neck sends shivers down your spine.

He finally lets go of your waist, holding his hand out, an invitation to dance. You take it without a second thought.

He’s a much better dancer than you. It’s obvious from the way he moves that it’s instinct, that he doesn’t think, he just moves. His hands return to your hips, guiding you to the rhythm of the song, pulling you to dance alongside him.

You laugh, realizing he’s teaching you how to dance.

You don’t know if it’s on purpose or not, but the way he smiles when you finally start to get the hang of it makes you want to kiss him all over again, so you do, a quick kiss on his cheek that makes his smile widen even more.

You don’t let go of him, not even when your friends finally leave the crowd, stepping into the freezing night air and you’re finally free from the blasting music. Everything sounds quiet outside as you walk down the street, hanging on Soonyoung’s arm.

You trail behind the rest of your friend group, most of them comforting Mingyu who had accidentally kissed someone with a very unhappy boyfriend. You’ve been so distracted by Soonyoung you never realized the chaos going on. You tuck your head onto his shoulder, deciding you would call Mingyu in the morning.

Soonyoung wraps his arm around your shoulders, sending warmth down your body. Neither of you have said anything since you left the club. You are scared words will break the spell, that he’ll change his mind and you’ll be left pining for someone that kissed you in the heat of the moment. You cling to his jacket even tighter, hoping to hold on to the moment.

You planned to stay at the house most of your friends lived in, which now you regret because it’s only a few minutes away from the club and you’re at their door. Soonyoung and a couple others are staying somewhere else. The impulsive side of you thinks about going home with him, but it’s nearly 3am and the exhaustion of dancing for hours is starting to set in.

You pause at the front door as your friends go inside, Seungkwan raising his eyebrows but saying nothing. You’ve detached yourself from Soonyoung’s side but his hands find yours. A sign he doesn’t want to say goodbye either?

You try to find words to express how you feel but they are all hollow, not what you truly mean.

“Soonyoung!” One of his friends shouts.

“Just a minute!” He turns back to you, stepping a little closer. You can feel the warmth radiating from his body, welcoming you.

“I should go inside,” you whisper but you don’t move. You stare at Soonyoung, taking note of every detail, his messy bleach blonde hair, sparkling eyes, the way his lips are curled into a little smile, trying to memorize everything about him tonight.

You’re pulled to him like gravity, leaning forward to meet his lips without thinking about it, pressing a slow kiss that’s unlike any you’ve had before, not with him, not with anyone. It’s sweet and makes your heart swell, sending a tingling sensation through your entire body, all the way to where his fingers are still intertwined with yours.

When you pull away, you are certain that you never want to kiss anyone else again. Even worse, it doesn’t scare you.

“Goodnight,” he says, with a smile so sweet it could give you a toothache. You let go of his hands, walking backwards to the door, probably grinning like an idiot as you watch him turn back to his friends.

You are just about to shut the door when he shouts, “I’ll call you!” You close the door with a smile, leaning against it and wrapping your arms around yourself, holding onto the promise of tomorrow.

[allzelemonz]

Wrong Door: The Master X Male Reader

Prompt: Tropesgiving Day 1: Enemies to Lovers Pronouns: He/Him Physical Sex: None Mentioned Rating: T/Moderate Themes Warnings: Canon typical violence, double meaning/implied future intimacy, background Yaz/Doctor, Dhawan Master Summary: The Doctor responds to a distress signal and meets an unexpected enemy with the intention of hurting her and the fam. When everyone’s plans are ruined, a certain Timelord has to improvise.

When the Doctor first came to you, you never imagined leaving.

Through every Dalek, every Cyberman, even every creepy Weeping Angel, the Doctor protected you and made sure there was still some fun while doing it. The TARDIS quickly became your home, the Doctor quickly became your friend. Yaz, Dan, everyone that joined the Doctor made for a good family.

But this adventure is throwing things all out of whack.

First there’s a distress signal that appears Dalek. Then there’s a horde of Cybermen. Now there’s an Angel. An angel on a screen that you can’t find the remote to and an Angel just outside of the door that Dan can’t take his eyes off of to help you. You’ve both called for the Doctor, but she’s busy with Yaz and the Cybermen.

Your hand moves across the surfaces around you, trying to feel anything that seems like a remote. There’s endless papers, books, random boxes, but no remote. You hear a swoosh and the sound of Dan taking a step back. You have to resist the urge to look back at him.

“Can you get the door controls?” You ask.

“I think they’re on the wall, but I can’t look at them.”

You take a shaky breath and try to feel for the remote again. Just as your fingers reach the end of the table you hear a mechanism click. There’s a breeze behind you and Dan shouts before a solid slam echoes around you. The urge to turn your head is stronger than ever, but you resist. Instead you step back until your hand rests on what feels like a metal wall. A wall separating you and your friend. A wall pitting you both alone against an Angel.

Before you can get you hand back on the table to feel for the remote you hear a somewhat familiar buzzing. Not quite the screwdriver you know, but it’s definitely something sonic. The Angel on the screen flickers a few times before going black. Your eyes stay fixed, still unblinking, unsure if the Angel will return.

“Aren’t you going to thank me?”

His is not the kind of voice you forget. Not after what you’ve seen him do. Your eyes finally blink as you take another shaky breath. When they open, you have the will to move them to a little nook where you’re sure he transported in. His smug face makes things clear. He faked the signa;. He brought the Cybermen. He planted the Weeping Angels. He dropped the wall between you and Dan. He brought you all here to do who knows what. Something sick and twisted cooked up in his evil mind just for the Doctor. Just to see her and the people she loves suffer.

He makes an expecting face, waiting for his thanks. You keep a steady glare aimed at him instead. The resting look of a monster returns over his features. The playful Master is gone and you’ve brought out the monster.

“I thought the Doctor and her precious fam were supposed to be all fun and happy.”

Your gaze doesn't waver as he stands. His apathetic way of walking is so different from the Doctor’s. She always has a purpose, even if it’s just to make someone smile. The Master walks as if he has nowhere to be, as if his plan isn’t unfolding perfectly as he plays with his food.

“Whatever you planned-”

“The Doctor will stop me,” He interrupts, moving closer to you. “won’t she?”

He whispers the question to you, close enough to make you shiver but not so close that you could push him away. Your glare meets his eyes for just a moment. Just long enough to see the fire in them that burns too bright for your liking.

“She will.”

That fire dies just a little. Just enough to bring a smug smile to your face. The Master seems annoyed by it, not just discouraged, annoyed. Without breaking your little staring contest, he points his sonic at the wall. It groans as it slides to make a doorway to a long, dark passage. He grabs your shirt collar, pulling you close and dragging you to the open wall.

“Well,” He sneers. “Let's see her save you from them.”

With a swift shove he throws you through the door. Before you can run back at him, the wall slides shut as he points his sonic to it and gives you a cheeky final wave with a smirk. You’re not entirely sure if you’re relieved to be rid of him or not. The way he said ‘them’ puts an air of hesitation to your movements. You decide not to play his little game. Whatever is waiting for you at the end of this tunnel is not something you’re willing to walk into.

However, the Master has other plans. You hear a mechanism click behind you and the wall behind you begins to move. You try to dig your feet in and stay put, but the wall only pushes you forward. You’re no match. The end of the tunnel brings some light, but the sounds that accompany it are worse than the dark.

The sounds of Daleks.

As the wall grinds to a loud stop every single eyestalk looks up at you. The cavern is full of hundreds of Daleks. In the middle is a large device, clearly Dalek technology, that whirs with a purpose. The Daleks begin to clamor, various ‘Exterminates’ and orders overlap each other.

“He is an associate of the Doctor, he will be captured and interrogated!”

That order echoes around the chamber, silencing all of the others. Every Dalek returns to their duties, except for two that fly up to meet you. The last thing you see is their glowing blue eyestalks closing in before things fade to black.

It’s the voice of the Doctor that wakes you. That weird sensation when the voice is in the dream until it pulls out to the reality outside. The Doctor’s voice, then the sound to the Daleks and the Cybermen, then someone’s pulling you up from the ground. You blink your senses back to see Yaz and Dan at your sides. The Doctor is ahead of you, giving one of her great speeches when she turns on a dime, aiming her sonic screwdriver at a large, seemingly important, console. Sparks fly out of it and the cavernous room goes pitch black. Yaz and Dan pull you along a pre-established path with the Doctor close behind.

The TARDIS is in sight.

Then he steps out.

The Master comes around the side of the TARDIS, a delighted look on his face as he runs his hand along the false wood finish of the big, blue box.

“Doctor,” His smile grows as he says her name. “I expected more of a fight, not a retreat.”

“I’m not gonna let you hurt anyone here.” The Doctor’s words are full of frustration layered just under the surface.

And the Master’s chuckle is all the more unsettling, “Dear Doctor, you won’t-“

The blaring sound of an alarm cuts him off. The lights around you darken and an emergency lighting with a red hue replaces them. Even in the dim lighting, the look of confusion is clear on the Master’s face. This isn’t his doing.

An echoing boom precedes the announcement of the saboteurs, “All inhabitants will yield to the glory of the Sontaran Empire!”

The Master exclaims in frustration and his foot stomps as he starts his tantrum, but the sound is lost to the growing echoes of marching Sontaran forces. At your side, Yaz begins to take steps backwards. Her hand grips your am, pulling you with her. In turn, you pull Dan along as well. The Doctor doesn’t move until they come into view— nearly a hundred of them in lines to form a large and imposing company.

The Doctor runs to the three of you and takes Yaz’s hand. You and Dan join her in a run and it isn’t long before you can hear the Master running behind you.

“Please tell me you’ve got a TARDIS!” The Doctor shouts back to him.

“I might.” He replies, keeping his snark even as the Sontarans begin to fire at his head.

“Oh, just tell us where the bloody thing is!” Dan shouts as he ducks under the blasts, his tall stature betraying him.

“Left!” The Master shouts, his pace now matching yours and Dan’s.

The Doctor veers left, pulling Yaz with her. The three of you follow suit. As the Master gives out directions he corridors only grow louder as the Dales and Cybermen join the fight. Just before you’re about to turn the next corner you’re pulled to the side.

Dan is the first to notice that the Master has grabbed you. The crazed Timelord holds a weapon to your head and backs into the shadows before the Doctor can see you taken. You fight against his grip on your arm, but he quickly reminds you of the weapon aimed at your head. He leads you to his TARDIS, tucked away from where he had been leading the Doctor.

He pushes you inside, closing the door behind him before turning to you, “If you even think of trying to get back to your precious Doctor, I’ll kill you in front of her.”

His intense glare makes you nod. He moves to the TARDIS console and works the controls, saving you both from the merciless enemies of the Doctor. You land with a thud and the Master runs to the door. You follow him, peering outside to see the Dalek chamber, now deserted. The Master rushes to a control console and aims a sonic device at it. As the familiar buzz fills the room you step outside, your eyes grazing over the large room that had been crawling with Daleks only a few minutes ago.

“What was your plan?”

Your question marks him pause, banging his fist on the console in frustration, “The TARDIS, I wanted the TARDIS.”

“Why’d you keep me alive?” You paused for a moment, “Twice.”

He lets a smile form on his face as he chuckles. “The first time, I needed the Doctor to find the Daleks. And I know she’d never leave one of her precious companions behind.” He spits the words precious companions as if they’re a venom invading his mouth.

“And now? Why am I here?”

He chuckles again, “Because I think your death might hurt her the most.”

“Yaz is the one she’s in love with.”

“Yes, yes, but you haven’t been with her too long.” He straightens up and pulls his sonic away from the console. “Long enough to bond, short enough to devastate.”

“Dan hasn’t been with us that long either.” You challenge, “Why not him?”

“Because I don’t like him.” The Master sighs like a child.

“But you like me?”

“I didn’t think you would be asked so many questions.”

“Just one more.”

He groans, “Fine, but then I want you absolutely silent.”

“Okay.” Your mind filters through the different questions you could ask. Maybe there’s something you could learn to help the Doctor, but your last question hangs in the air with an irritating level of unanswer. “Do you, let’s say, not despise me?”

He giggles, not a chuckle this time, but a giddy giggle as he steps closer to you. “I find you delightfully irritating.”

His breath hits your ear due to his proximity and he gives you a smile before he walks past you and opens the door to his TARDIS, gesturing for you to enter. With a skeptical look you follow his passive order. He dances around the controls with much more elegance than the Doctor ever could. When you land again, he rushes to the door with an eerie excitement.

When you follow him out you find the Doctor, Yaz, and Dan by the TARDIS, no Sontarans in sight. Their faces light up when you step out, Yaz takes a step towards you but the Doctor stops her. Both of their eyes move to the Master’s hand where he holds the same weapon he had held to your head before.

“What was I saying before we were so rudely interrupted?” The Master ponders. “Oh, of course,” He sneers, “you can’t save everyone.”

He levels the weapon at your head and both Yaz and Dan cry out, but the Master silences them with a sharp jab to draw their attention back to the weapon.

“He has nothing to do with this, let him go.” The Doctor’s voice sounds calm on the surface, but there is that fiery rage just underneath.

“I have a better idea.” The Master lowers his weapon and steps behind you, a hand on your shoulder and his face close to your ear. “Let’s have him make a choice. The Doctor or the Master!”

“This is ridiculous, come on, man!” Dan waves his hand for you to walk forward.

“Stay with me and I’ll show you things she never would.”

The Master whispers in your ear and it nullifies the shouting of your friends. The devil-on-your-shoulder temptation is quite literally deafening.

“With her goody-goody self righteousness, she’ll never show you all of the juicy bits.” His hand tightens on your shoulder. “But I will. I’ll show you whatever you want.”

There’s a brief shout from Yaz that breaks through about how you shouldn’t listen to him, that he’s lying and he’s evil. But your mind is already racing with the possibilities, all of the things the Doctor would never let you do because of the danger or the morality or the rules of time.

“Forbidden is just a word, my dear.”

The Master’s final whisper echoes through every crevice in your brain as he backs away and his hand opens the TARDIS door behind him. The fam’s shouts grow louder now that he has left your side. You can hear them again, telling you to run, but your feet have made up their minds. It isn’t until you're standing in front of him that your head has caught up and agreed. The Master’s hand comes up to trace your jawline as a smile spreads over his face.

“We’re going to have so much fun!”

The fire in his eyes pushes his double meaning, neither one being something you would ever object to. Without looking back at your dear friends, you step into the wrong door.

[magicalara]

I can’t listen to bad romance by lady gaga without thinking of Grelle and it’s becoming a problem so I’m writing out what my mind keeps making me think about when I hear it (specifically the part in french bc Grelle knows french and is french on her mother’s side bc I say so). I might continue to make these impromptu posts a thing so here’s Grelle scenarios I think about part 1 

TW: mentions of alcohol 

- So we’re gonna start by establishing the fact that there are reaper-only bars/clubs. Most of them are open to both retired and active reapers, but there are ones that are only for each group respectively if a reaper prefers to only be around those in or out of the profession. There are also LGBT specific ones, though the vast majority are LGBT friendly spaces anyways.

- You and Grelle had known each other for a while after getting paired together for collections and frequent little chats around the office. Throughout this time, you’ve developed a nice crush on the lady in red which she suspects but doesn’t push besides her general flirting not wanting to ruin the friendship y’all have in case she’s wrong. But Grelle’s intuition tends to not be wrong and you are, in fact, head over red and black heeled boots for her.

- Grelle likes to go to the club sometimes you know just to let loose a little and have some drinks, especially after stressful days. Usually, her target as company for these nights is none other than our dear Ronnie but tonight he’s a little busier than usual and so Grelle’s options are to go alone or pester someone else enough to get them to come with her. Naturally, she chooses the second option. The only question now was who?

- She could have gone to William or Othello (William is a tough nut to crack, but sometimes he cracks nonetheless and Othello is definitely a fun drunk who can’t handle his alcohol after two hours max) but after running into you in the hallway, she got ideas.

- “Oh come on, I can’t even begin to remember the last time we hung out together that wasn’t for work reasons.” is what she’ll tell you. She gives you the puppy eyes, calls you every pet name she can think of, and even offers to buy you lunches for the next week. When you agree she does little happy jumps and hugs you and tells you that she’ll pick you up later that night.

-  It’s later that night and she’s there and she brings you to the place and you know you get some drinks and now you have the influence of alcohol in your system and oh dear here we are now to the part that’s always in my head.

- So The Song comes on and let’s say that you guys are already dancing okay that’ll make things easier and you know that Grelle knows french and you know that there’s a part in french and so with a surge of confidence when The Part comes on you just fully pull her into you (and move her head down if you’re shorter) by the waist and whisper the part into her ear and she’s just all hafshdgadgaldg basically

- Congratulations, you’ve successfully flustered Grelle and now she definitely knows that you like her but it’s all good because she likes you too and now she is down to fuck cuddle you very nicely 🥰

- But in all honesty, she takes this as a “yeah they’re getting a little too drunk it’s time to go home” and she stays over to take care of you (it doesn’t matter if you’re good at holding your alcohol or not, she’s staying) and in the morning she finally starts the conversation about it and y’all confess and it’s all thanks to Lady Gaga and a spur of confidence

[paalove]

prompt? 😇 akk always being moody when aye doesn't give him a good morning kiss and it ruins his whole day. But he is a bit shy and insecure to communicate that. Because this whole boyfriend thing is new to him but damn does he want his good morning kiss.

HI thanks for prompting this [mumbles length of time] ago, ily anon

NOT POSTING ON AO3 UNTIL TOMORROW bc i want to do a couple of simultaneous uploads. for khao's birthday!

“Would you just pay attention,” Akk snaps.

Kan drops his pen and blinks at him.

At least it stops the little song Kan had been singing himself about matrix calculations, but Akk starts to sink in his seat as soon as he thinks that.

Brow furrowing, Kan leans over the table to squint at him before saying, “Are you okay?”

That question is relevant but Akk doesn’t want to answer it.

He’s aware not wanting to talk about his feelings has caused problems before, earlier this year. Like, a couple of months ago, it nearly ended with him getting expelled-

Anyway, Akk doesn’t want to tell the truth.

He mumbles, “Worried about the maths one,” and then, “Sorry.”

“That’s alright,” Kan says, shrugging easily and returning to studying.

But Akk can see the side-eye he’s getting from behind the suddenly-raised textbook and the way Kan’s face is suddenly illuminated means he’s definitely texting someone.

Could be just about any of the others – he talks to Thua most, of course, but Aye is the obvious go-to for any gossip about Akk, and he definitely has suspicions about Kan and Aye conspiring to make their own clingy-boyfriend-stuff seem more reasonable, and of course Wat and Kan have been texting behind Akk’s back for longer than anyone else (but it’s fine – he texts both of them behind the other’s, after all) so it could be-

Is Aye the obvious go-to for Akk?

Well, he’s obvious to the others, but he might not want to be anymore.

This is stupid, he reminds himself. I am being stupid about this and Aye isn’t breaking up with me.

He’s wearing the hoodie that has to prove it, of course, which might be the one bought for him or the one Aye already had – they swap, every so often, for reasons he cannot admit to the others, and indeed had once had to cover Aye’s mouth for an entire lunchtime to stop him from explaining, how they had to smell like the other person – but Akk’s stupid brain keeps doing it anyway.

Aye wanted to, it was just the timing, he tries to convince himself.

Kan’s still watching him from behind the textbook.

It’s not like Akk can criticise him; he’s not studying either.

They probably look silly, just the two of them pretending to study at this table, and Akk can’t remember what the others said they were going to do. He was probably focused on his stupid thoughts.

About Aye, and the timing.

But it can’t be prefect stuff, because Aye and Thua are gone too, and Akk doesn’t remember them even being here at the start of this study period, and he doesn’t know what else it could be but he can’t ask Kan.

He’d sound anxious.

And Kan would know he was spiralling.

Probably other people too – the same ones he and Kan look silly to now, in their pantomime of studying, because of course they’re looking. People haven’t stopped looking at him at school, since everything happened.

It’s Akk’s fault of course, he knows that.

The eyes still burn.

Not always – when Aye’s with him it actually feels kind of good, moving past everything and proving to himself that being looked at, being seen won’t kill him, but…

First of all, Aye isn’t here, which is the root of all of it today apparently, but it’s still fine because when his friends are here it’s fine and Kan is here.

But then, also, maybe not.

Because the other thing is that he’s clearly relying on Aye more than he thought. He feels uneasy, on-edge, like the hoodie has something crawling on it and so does the table and so does the ground, and Akk knows why.

That’s what makes it all so stupid – that he knows why.

He and Aye slept in separate buildings last night, which isn’t that weird for them, no matter what their friends say. But then Aye was a little late, in the morning, so when they actually reunited there were like, three teachers in sight of them, and two of them were vaguely-recognised members of the faculty but Teacher Waree was the third – she likes Aye better now, but it’s not like she can be either of their favourite teacher so it would have just been weird.

They’d moved on quickly, moved into the grounds where their friends were, but all that meant-

“The printer just tried to eat Thua,” Aye announces, throwing himself onto the same part of the bench where Akk is sitting and, incidentally, throwing one leg over Akk’s.

He’s balanced precariously, that being a stupid way to sit on a picnic bench, so Akk steadies him with a hand on his waist. While they’re smiling at each other Kan says or does something that makes Thua put on an exasperated voice, so they’re flirting too, which makes the interruption totally reasonable.

Namo steals Akk’s textbook and lies down on the table, so as to wave his hands in all their faces at once and say, “I also exist, actually.”

“Hi, Wat,” Akk and Kan reply in unison, ignoring Namo to look at the only person still standing up.

Wat waves and tries to pull Namo off the table.

Thua breaks off from whatever he was murmuring to Kan to look confused and ask, “Wait, what were you guys doing before we ran into you?”

“Oh,” starts Wat, “I was actually in the computer room on the second floor, checking my emails, and-“

Aye pokes Akk’s knee.

Akk tilts his head to look at him properly – they’re cuddled up pretty tightly.

“-helping me double check my note about the,“ Namo’s saying, now sitting on top of the table. “What was it? You know, the-“

Aye gives an exaggerated pout and Akk really does try not to stare at his lips, which has always been a difficult task.

They’re very smooth.

And shiny.

One mystery that was finally solved after they started dating was the shininess – Akk never suspected lip balm, he always just thought Aye was kind of… inherently shiny-lipped.

Case in point: when Aye isn’t helping him, Akk is stupid.

“-Yeah, we were looking at Namo’s notes but I still needed to check my email, and-“

The pout slowly slips into an actual frown, and Akk feels his own eyes widen. Aye is frowning at him and it’s probably confusion but the stupid, unsettled part of him that’s been waiting since they met up insists that it’s more than that-

Kan claps once, loudly.

At least when they turn their heads to look at him, they’re synchronised.

“Everyone’s being weird,” announces Kan. “Akk yelled at me about studying better and you two are talking funny.”

The you two indicated seems to be Namo and Wat, who immediately look at each other.

Over their disagreements – or perhaps explanations? – Thua speaks in that unexpectedly-carrying tone he’s always been so good at, voice deceptively soft, saying, “You should study better, Kan. We’ve got a week left to study.”

Pausing for Kan’s whine and the way he dramatically lets his head fall onto the desk, Thua visibly suppresses a smile.

It’s quiet for a moment.

“And that’s making everything weird, of course people are acting like it. Nobody’s being weird,” he adds.

Akk feels more than sees Aye nod in agreement.

Which seems like Akk’s cue, so he leans forwards as much as he can without disrupting Aye (only barely not sitting in his lap at this point) to shake his head at Kan and say, “Stop being a dick to everyone, Kan.”

“Yeah,” jumps in Namo, “Stop being a dick.”

Kan is failing to defend himself against their ganging up on him, probably because his boyfriend is also giggling and Akk knows Kan likes it when Thua’s kind of mean to him, when Aye starts poking his leg again.

“What?” he whispers, not wanting to get the rest of their attention.

Wiggling and tipping his forehead onto Akk’s shoulder, Aye is equally quiet when he asks, “You yelled at Kan?”

Akk freezes, which is his main mistake.

He tries, “I just snapped because he was being annoying,” but Aye felt him freeze and Aye knows how to read him.

There’s a moment when Aye frowns at him again, and this time the overwhelming fear isn’t of the stupid thing – Aye leaving – but of the actual threat, which is Aye figuring out what he’s upset about.

Akk isn’t surprised that Aye stands up.

“What’s up-“

He doesn’t hear the rest of Wat’s question, because it’s better to just go, when Aye starts trying to drag him somewhere.

They don’t go far.

Actually, he’s pretty sure the others will hear them even if they whisper, here, but Aye places him with his back against a wall and boxes him in, so Akk really has no choice to comply.

And get distracted by staring at his lips again.

Only briefly, this time, because Aye quickly takes his hand and says, “You weren’t upset Kan was being annoying.”

“It’s nothing.”

There’s no point insisting on the Kan story – Aye can read him.

Of course, Aye also knows the kind of feelings Akk prefers not to admit to, and he knows their outcomes, so it’s definitely not weird that Aye’s face goes all worried and urgent.

Guilt makes Akk panic and blurt it out.

In a mumble – their friends can still hear them – he says, “When we met up Teacher Waree was there and then our friends were there and we didn’t see each other last night so you didn’t kiss me hello this morning and I’ve been sad about it.”

Eyes now scrunched closed, he has to convince them to peel open, even though he knows Aye won’t be making any of the worst faces he’s picturing. He won’t be disgusted or angry or, like, guilty because it was on purpose – no, at worst, Aye’s going to be suppressing that Akk’s-so-cute smile-

No, wait, there’s one worse, and it’s this.

Confused, Aye says, “Huh? I couldn’t understand you.”

“You didn’t kiss me hello this morning!” Akk repeats; he knows immediately that he was too loud.

None of their friends are making a sound.

Quietly, he adds, “Oh no.”

Aye’s eyes light up with exactly the Akk’s-so-cute look he’d been afraid of, and the hand on his squeezes tight, and he opens his mouth to say something mortifying and-

“Wat,” asks Namo, loudly. “Did you just hear something?”

Oh, fuck.

At least Aye kisses him on the cheek before dragging him back to the table. It’s the only upside to what follows.

[chaotic-super]

Live With Me - Chapter 15

Read Live With Me on AO3 here!

Kara wakes up in bed alone. It’s dark out and the opposite side of the bed is still made to perfection, adding to her confusion that is most definitely caused by waking up alone for the first time in a long time and a mild headache.  

She tugs herself free of the sheets and climbs to her feet, wobbling a little before getting her balance. Once she’s upright, her hand comes up to rest against her neck as she realizes how dry her throat is. She has to make a pitstop in the kitchen once she’s figured out where her wayward girlfriend has gone.

The stairs creak beneath her feet. It’s something Lena keeps complaining about and has been promising to get it sorted out as soon as their lives aren’t as hectic and they can trust someone enough to come into the house to fix it. Kara doesn’t have the heart to tell her that she loves the creaky stairs; she thinks it gives the house character and reminds her of the creaky floorboards in the Danvers’ house. Those floorboards used to soothe her at night when she could hear people moving about the house, a constant reminder that she was not alone. If it annoys Lena though, she has no problem letting her get it fixed, her new constant reminder is the way she wakes up in her arms every morning, or at least, she usually does.

Stumbling into the living room, she’s greeted by the sight of Lena smooshed up into the armchair with her laptop balanced on the arm. She has a blanket draped across her that covers every part of her body except her head and the hand closest to her laptop so she can still type, albeit slowly since she’s doing it one-handed.

“Hey.” Kara mumbles, plopping down on the empty couch, Lucy nowhere in sight. “Did Lucy leave already?”

Lena looks up at her, her eyes soft and lingering. “No, she couldn’t make it out because the crowd hasn’t dissipated any. She’s in the guest room. I think she’s still awake and working but she wanted a little privacy. I can’t blame her; she’s been stuck with us all day.”

Kara nods, completely understanding. “Ah, I see. What time is it anyway?”

“It’s late, almost ten.” Lena answers, snapping her laptop closed and pushing herself up off the chair with a grunt, her blanket still wrapped around her snuggly. She smushes herself into Kara’s side, her head resting against her shoulder for a second until Kara wraps her arm around her, and then her head falls to her chest. “I’m sorry I got you drunk for the livestream.”

“Oh, crap. I forgot about that. It’s not your fault I’m a lightweight. Besides, I should have known better than to drink at a time like this.”

Lena shakes her head, the movement making Kara feel like Lena is trying to burrow into her skin. “Don’t be silly, darling, if there’s any time you should be drinking it’s when the government are simultaneously trying to destroy your life and murder you. If it makes you feel any better though, you did win a lot of people over with your antics on the livestream. I’ve been fielding questions on Twitter since we were live but I think the people of the internet would like to hear from Little Miss Lightweight herself.”

“Are there a lot of people asking questions on Twitter?” Kara cringes at the thought. “I can barely remember the livestream so seeing what they’re asking is kind of scary.”

“You didn’t do anything too bad, don’t worry.” Lena smiles. “You just complimented my jawline a lot and showed how utterly obsessed you are with me, that’s all.”

Kara facepalms. “Please tell me you managed to save the livestream so it wasn’t a complete waste?”

“I answered a lot of the professional questions, don’t worry. You didn’t ruin it anyway, it actually got a lot of people on our side, it turns out that I’m not the only person who adores your cute rambles. You showed a lot of humanity and that goes a long way, now, get your butt on Twitter, I’m going to have a nap while you do that.”

“Ok, let me just go and grab a drink, my mouth is as dry as a witch’s tit.”

Lena barks out a laugh. “You should drink more often if it gets that kind of comment out of you. Have you had a personality change?”

“I think somehow your drinks have turned me into you.” Kara jokes, pushing Lena off her gently so she can stand up. “Want me to grab you a drink too?”

“No thank you, I’ll just have a little bit of yours.”

“Ok.”

Kara goes and grabs herself a can of soda out of the fridge and just as she’s about to close the door, she hesitates and grabs another one. She’s fallen for Lena’s claims of only wanting a sip before and it always ends with her being the one only having a quick mouthful and Lena drinking the rest of it. She hides the second can behind her back and as she moves into the living room, she places it on the side table beside the couch where Lena won’t see it unless she’s looking for it.

Lena doesn’t spot her doing so because while she is still awake, her eyes are closed and her head tilted back against the cushions of the couch, sleep slowly creeping in on her. Kara picks up the laptop Lena was using not too long ago and takes her spot next to Lena, cracking the can open and taking a gulp before handing the can to Lena.

Lena takes several gulps and Kara rolls her eyes at her. She was right to grab the second one. Lena hands the can back to her, two-thirds of the contents now missing.

“Thanks,” Kara mutters and Lena hums in response, oblivious to the sarcasm in her voice. Kara’s not mad though, especially not when Lena unravels the blanket from around herself partially to cover Kara up too so they are wrapped in a little burrito of love and soda thievery.

“Oh, by the way, a bunch of people did as you requested and have sent you pictures of their pets.” Lena sleepily informs her, her head pressing into her shoulder.

“What?” Kara’s hands speed up, logging into the laptop and then Twitter as quickly as she can, her bright blue eyes scanning the screen excitedly in search of the pictures she so desperately needs to see right this second.

Her Twitter feed is a mess but Lena wasn’t lying, there are a whole lot of animal pictures for her to go through, most of them dog pictures, her favourite.

“Can you admire the dogs a little bit quieter please?”

“I didn’t even say anything.”

“I could feel your excitement in the air.” Lena mumbles.”

“Then…no.”

“Ugh. Ok.” Lena holds her hand out and Kara takes the hint, pressing the can back into her hand. Lena finishes it off and then resumes her previous position, getting closer and closer to the sanctity of sleep with every second that passes.

Kara takes back the can and immediately opens the other one. She actually really likes this side of Lena, the side where she’s relaxed and annoying and real. This is the side of her only she gets to see, the parts of her that Lena doesn’t try to make perfect. She allows herself to just be who she is and react naturally rather than wearing a mask.

Getting back on track, she starts sifting through the comments and pictures, smiling at the puppy pictures and cringing at the lovesick puppy pictures of herself looking over at Lena, screenshots from the livestream. Well, she can see why Alex used to get annoyed at her for being so obliviously in love with Lena because if that’s what she used to always look like before she admitted her feelings to both herself and to Lena, that must have been spectacularlyannoying for Alex.

Her fingers fly across her keyboard, answering the less invasive questions and any that aren’t too serious. She can already see that Lena answered a lot and is trying to avoid answering any that Lena has already addressed so there aren’t any discrepancies in their stories for anyone to latch onto.

She counts herself lucky though because it seems as though people aren’t as interested in the details of the case as much as they are trying to pry into her personal life. That would usually be a bad thing but in this case, it’s nice. It’s giving her the opportunity to tell the world how great Lena is when she’s usually entangled in the negative press that comes with having Lex Luthor as a brother.

It’s very difficult containing herself and not turn every question or comment into a reason to go off on a tangent about how beautiful and smart and kind and resilient Lena is. She just wants to shower her with compliments and show the world just how amazing she is, to force them to believe in her the way she does.

Soothed by the gentle breaths and snores in her ear, Kara passes the time until Lena eventually stirs and demands they go to bed.

Kara is more than happy to comply, simply glad that the next time she wakes up, it will be with Lena right by her side.

-

It’s not just Lucy that manages to sneak out first thing in the morning but also both Kara and Lena. It seems as though some of the drama and need to see them in person has died down overnight, probably due to them doing the livestream yesterday and then tweeting about it directly afterwards, giving the media outlets something to report on, even if it isn’t much more than the basic statements they already had, they can now take the more personal angle on it thanks to Kara.

They get to the car with very little interaction with the people outside, most of them just taking photos. A couple of them try to shove their cameras in their faces and ask questions but Kara takes the petty route of turning her back every time one specific guy points his camera at her and the footage of that from another reporter actually ends up online, another point for Kara. She’s quickly winning the hearts of the nation without even trying.

They find that out when they arrive at CatCo through the back entrance and are escorted by security up to Cat’s office. They aren’t entirely sure what’s going on until Cat stands up from her chair and dismisses the security guys with a wave of a hand.

“Good morning, ladies. It’s such a shame you’re so boring and monogamous, you don’t get to appreciate the muscles of the guys I’ve hired to keep the rodents out of the building. There is a couple of very attractive ladies downstairs guarding the art department though that might be just your speed if you decide to dive into non-monogamy.”

“Can we just get to work?” Lena side-eyes Kara, mostly because she doesn’t understand how Kara isn’t fazed by anything Cat’s saying but she supposes that after years of working with her, it’s not the biggest leap that she’s just numb to it.

“Whatever, work’s going well, you’ve been doing well. Kara, great stunt with that creep outside your house, you won internet points for it.”

Kara loses her blank expression, trading it in for a more startled expression. “Oh, um…I wasn’t expecting people to see that.”

“That’s why people love it.” Cat swipes her glasses off her face and places them down atop her desk. “People like it when you are genuine. You might be annoying but you are genuine. That doesn’t mean I want you to drunkenly lust after your girlfriend on a livestream though. We need to control the narrative and while you have done a great job and your tweets, which I have been checking, have been a great way to prove we are being open and honest, we need to close off momentarily because Ms Nal’s partner has concluded the job of setting up a secure computer for us to use to upload the proof. We need to go over exactly what we’re releasing and make no further statements on the matter until it is officially out there. Got it?”

“Got it,” Kara says as Lena and Lucy nod resolutely, trusting Cat on this. If there’s one woman that can get them through this, it’s her.

“Why don’t you two lovebirds go and wait in Kara’s office and keep Nia from bugging her boy toy and slowing him down until it’s done while Lucy and I discuss a few matters?” Cat asks but it’s clear that her question is much more akin to a demand.

“Ok.” Lena grabs Kara’s hand and guides her out of the office.

The security guys follow them to Kara’s office just a few steps behind them but don’t follow them into the room. They close the door behind them and greet the two people already in there. Kara’s not super stoked that her office is the headquarters for the team but she gets it, sometimes there’s just a need and they are doing a lot for her so she can’t really complain.

Nia is sitting in her office chair just spinning around in a circle, the chair moved to the middle of the room beneath the ceiling fan and she’s following the rotations, very obviously bored out of her mind.

Brainy is working diligently on a fancy yet beefy-looking laptop that has a million wires coming and going all over the place, headphones affixed over his ears, probably to block out the sounds Nia’s making so he can concentrate.

Lena’s hands reach out and stop Nia from continuing to spin in the chair. “Hello.”

Nia tilts her head back so she can see Lena’s face and her mouth turns up into a massive smile. “Hey! You’ve escaped your tower, Rapunzel!”

“It’s more of a house.” Lena rolls her eyes and pushes the chair, and subsequently Nia too, across the room closer to where the chair should actually be but it can’t go in the exact right spot because Brainy is using Kara’s desk.

“Hi, Nia. Hi, Brainy,” Kara says, waving at them each in turn and getting a half-hearted two-finger lift off the keyboard from Brainy. She supposes that’s enough of an acknowledgement though and doesn’t mind.

Nia rests her head on her closed fist, her elbow resting on the flimsy arm of the chair. “So, I watched your livestream.”

Kara’s chipper attitude fades some. There’s definitely some teasing coming. “I’m not surprised.”

“Don’t get that sour look on your face, I thought it was cute. I don’t often get to see that mushy side of you because you’re mostly professional at work apart from the handholding. I’ve seen you ramble about a lot of things but that whole rant about Lena’s jawline being sculpted by the Gods, that was just too much for me, I about died of cuteness overload.”

Without Kara’s consent, a blush spreads across her cheeks. She’s not ashamed of her love for Lena and will happily shout it from the rooftops but there’s just something strange about it being CatCo’s rooftop. This is her workplace and while her relationship is now very public, it doesn’t feel natural to be discussing this or the way she gushed about Lena yesterday while here.

“Stop bullying her, Nia. You know she’s delicate.” Lena wraps her arm around Kara’s waist, a semi-teasing smile gracing her lips. “Let’s just sit in awkward silence until Brainy is done. Ok?”

“Whatever.” Nia shrugs.

Even though Lena is the one that suggested the silence, she’s the one that is the one hating it the most. She’s not someone that is very good at just sitting around and doing nothing all day, or even just sitting and doing nothing for ten minutes apparently.

The only time she’s happy to just sit and relax is when she’s got a certain blonde doing something she can leer at her for, usually gardening. She does look good when she’s bent over the violas and surprisingly, that’s not a euphemism. She also looks good bent over the pansies. That is a euphemism.

Lena takes a glance to the side to see Kara just sitting there, the light shining down on her and reflecting in her pretty blonde locks like droplets of sunlight caught soft waves. She looks good enough to eat. They should have stayed home.

At least Lena’s not bored anymore.

It turns out that Lena doesn’t need Kara to be gardening to find her ridiculously attractive and have her be her entertainment. Every once in a while she looks up and catches Lena’s eye and when she sees the barely concealed predatory look, her blush grows and she looks away bashfully. Lena can’t get enough of it. They may have only just left the house but she’s certainly looking forward to getting back there so she can ravish Kara.

Brainy pulls his headphones off rather aggressively and it grabs their attention and wipes the seductive look off Lena’s face and lightens her eyes from the dark gaze she was holding previously.

“I’ve got it. It’s done.” He stands up, his spine straighter than any of them in the room and tucks his hands behind his back. “You may plug in your USB device now and you can rest assured that your data will be safe.”

“Uh, thanks, Brainy,” Kara says, still a little flustered because of what Lena can say without saying anything at all but the feeling dissipating and being replaced by a wave of relief that they are finally able to put their proof out into the world.

“Isn’t he just the best?” Nia asks, standing up and pressing a peck to his cheek, garnering the most human reaction he has had since they met him today by widening his eyes and ducking his head.

“Sure, Nia. He’s pretty great. Would you mind grabbing Ms Grant so we can start planning the proof release?” Lena asks.

Kara jumps in before Nia can accept though. “I’ll go, I have to grab the USB from where I hid it anyway.”

“Want me to come with you?” Lena asks but Kara shakes her head.

“I’ll only be a minute, sit back and rejoice in this little win.”

Lena sits back down, reassuring herself that Kara is right, she will only be a minute. She watches closely as Kara leaves and gestures for Nia to sit on the chair Kara just vacated rather than the desk chair, garnering a confused nose scrunch.

In response to that look, Lena huffs. “If you think you deserve the good chair and won’t get kicked out of it when Ms Grant comes in here, you’re very much wrong.”

“Fine.” Nia gives in and Brainy moves his chair next to Nia’s.

Kara goes to Cat’s office first to get her and finds her alone so Lucy must be off doing something important that doesn’t include babysitting them so they don’t do anything worse than drunken livestreams.

“Hey, Ms Grant, Brainy has finished up with the computer now.”

Cat simply nods and stands up. She gathers a few items off her desk and piles them on top of her notebook before joining Kara at the door. Kara gets a glance at them and sees that it’s just her glasses, her phone and her lucky pen. Cat’s feeling good about this if she’s bringing her lucky pen.

“We just have to stop and get the USB.”

“Lead the way.”

Kara doesn’t waste any time, she strides right towards Snapper’s old office, completely ignoring the intrigued looks of her co-workers but she does notice the stress and apprehension on their faces and in their tight postures. It’s understandable, something huge is going down and the person in the middle of it keeps showing up at work and acting strangely.

Cat tuts at her when she gets just inside the door to Snapper’s office because she digs her hand right into the plant pot she hid the USB in. Her nails fill up with soil and her fingers hand to wiggle around a little but it’s there, she still has it and it’s right where she left it.

She was a little worried it would have been found, especially when she was walking up here and saw that the room has been partially emptied, just a desk, a chair and some empty shelves remaining. Clearly filling the role of Editor-In-Chief isn’t at the top of Ms Grant’s priority list at the minute.

“Got it.”

“You better wash your hands.”

“I will once this is safely in the office with the rest of the group, don’t worry.”

Cat nods but she isn’t satisfied. They barely get a few more steps before she speaks again, not being able to hold her tongue. “You’re dropping dirt in my building.”

Kara doesn’t dignify that with a response but she does tighten her grip of the USB and keeps marching towards her office. The door swings open after Cat grabs the handle. Kara did go to grab it but a sharp clearing of Cat’s throat has her hand retreating. Apparently, she’s not allowed to open the door when her hand is dirty even though she reached out with her clean hand.

“One USB.” Kara holds it out to Brainy, allowing him the honours. “I grew that myself, as you can see.” Her shoulders sink when her joke doesn’t land but Lena’s comforting hand runs over her shoulder blades.

“Tough crowd, I thought it was funny though.”

“Thanks, baby.” Kara mumbles. “I’m just going to go and wash my hand, keep an eye on the idiots for me.”

“You got it, don’t be long.”

-

The proof is posted to CatCo’s website along with the actual article that was meant to be released before right at midnight and it’s fast-growing to be one of the most viewed articles in CatCo’s history.

Every media company they can think of have written articles on it or posted about it in some way. It’s insane how the word is spreading that the long-awaited proof is out there now and people are drinking it in.

With the release though, they have been wary. They went home just after it was posted and came back to the office first thing in the morning but they would be lying if they said they weren’t worried now.

If the government weren’t wanting them dead before, they probably will now because they now have the proof they need to show that something more sinister is definitely at play and putting the heat on them. Not only that though, but the public is now also aware that they are in danger because of what they know so at least everyone will know the truth if they do get offed before their time and they will see the government for the corrupt body it is, not that most everyone in the US and across the globe doesn’t already know that, at least to some extent.

Kara and Lena are alone in Kara’s office. Now that the article is live, Kara is working on her next one. One where she’s detailing the hardships they faced and the explanation for the late publishing of the video of Snapper in her office and the actual article along with every other little scrap of proof they could get their hands on.

While she’s doing that, Lena is simultaneously keeping an eye on Twitter to see what the reactions to the article are and also getting back into some of her work for L-Corp. While most of it’s been covered already by Sam, her CFO, she feels terrible that it’s all being dumped on her, even if she is being compensated for it greatly, she knows just how much time she must be sacrificing with her daughter to keep the company afloat and step into her shoes while they get all of this sorted out.

There’s really not much she can do other than sign a few documents and go over a couple of projects that need to be approved though because Sam is so on top of things she has managed to get things more organized than she’s had them in years, even going as far as getting a couple of days ahead in certain areas where Lena is chronically behind. She’s going to have to pin her down for a conversation so she can teach her how to do that because no matter how many hours she’s put in before, she’s never been that organized. She has to have a secret about how she’s managed it.

“Kara, you’re getting a whole lot of positive attention here.”

 “Really?” Kara looks up from her laptop.

Lena hums her confirmation. “It’s looking really good. I bet your next article will be another boost for us as well.”

“Let’s hope so.”

A frantic knock at the door has them on edge. It’s quick and light but the sound is heavy and nerve-wracking.

“Come in,” Lena calls.

Franklin, a trusted co-worker of Kara’s, pokes his head in the door. “Kara, you better come out here, the state governor is here and she’s asking to see you.”

“What?” Kara can barely believe what she’s hearing and is up and heading out of her office right away. She has an idea of where she needs to go without asking and goes right for Ms Grant’s office, Franklin and Lena right behind her.

She finds the office empty though. “Oh, where is she?” She turns to Franklin. “I would have thought she would be in here with Ms Grant.”

“Ms Grant wouldn’t let them upstairs. They are in the lobby.”

Kara’s eyebrows shoot up into her hairline. Cat has pulled many tricks but keeping someone as important as the state governor in the lobby is something she couldn’t have anticipated but if anyone is going to make a power move like that one, it’s Cat motherfucking Grant. “That’s very…whatever. Let’s go.”

Lena and Kara step out of the elevator in unison, Franklin trailing behind them, his eyes alert as he keeps track of what’s going on like he’s afraid he’s about to miss something. The security guards are still present but the dozen guards that were stationed down here have been joined by at least another dozen, probably more, all ready and waiting to throw out The Governor and anyone else that they are instructed to do so.

The Governor is joined by her own guards, six of them all stationed around her in a loose hexagon that could tighten up to the sharpest of shapes in an instant.

“Ms Danvers, Ms Luthor. I’m glad you could join us.” The Governor notices them as they stalk forward to Cat’s side, who is standing in front of the Governor and her guards, arms crossed and looking seven feet tall in all of her feisty glory.

“What can we do for you, Governor?” Kara asks, her chest puffed in faux confidence, her voice as commanding as she can make it, taking a leaf out of Lena’s book from when she has her CEO persona in place.

“I was hoping to speak to you in private, are you certain that isn’t possible?” She turns her attention between Kara, Lena and Cat, seeking approval she has already been denied as far as Kara and Lena can see.

Cat shakes her head. “This is as far into my building as you’re getting. You can speak freely or don’t, that’s completely up to you.”

The Governor doesn’t look pleased but nods anyway, accepting that she’s not going to be getting very far with her request. “Alright, here is fine. Ms Danvers, your presence has been requested at The White House. The President wishes to speak to you in person.”

Kara’s eyes bulge along with Lena’s, Cat’s and Franklin’s.

“I believe it is quite obvious what he would like to discuss with you since it’s the top news story at every media station in the country. He has sent me to collect you and have you escorted there right away.”

“And if I refuse?”

The guards step forward.

“I don’t believe we need to discuss hypotheticals.”

“I want Ms Grant and Ms Luthor to join me too,” Kara demands.

The Governor has no issues with that, a single head nod allowing it. “You may bring guests with you but the meeting will be between you and The President alone as far as I’m aware. Please come with me.”

Cat doesn’t move when The Governor heads for the door and since Kara and Lena are a half-step behind her, they don’t move either.

The Governor and the guards take note of that and move back towards them threateningly.

“I will be collecting a few of my things from upstairs, as will Ms Danvers and Ms Luthor. We will be back soon, feel free to wait in the lobby.” Cat announces to them, not giving them time to argue before she’s ushering them into the elevator, leaving poor Franklin behind in her rush to stab the close-door button so they can’t be forcibly followed.

As they are on their way up, Cat turns to them. “We have to be careful about this. Kara, you’re going to be on your own for some of this, hold your ground and be the reporter I know you can be. Do not allow yourself to be bullied into anything. You hear me?”

“I hear you.”

“Excellent. Gather a few things from your desk to make it look like we weren’t just buying time. Leave your phones with Nia. I will bring some of my backup phones and pass them off as ours, bring your phone cases though. We have to take every precaution here, no matter what.”

Kara and Lena go right to Kara’s office and grab a couple of things. For Kara, it’s just a couple of notebooks and for Lena, it’s one of Kara’s spare notebooks and her keys, minus her house key. They stop by Nia’s desk and leave their phones with her, having her put them in her purse and also asking her to keep an eye on their laptops too since they are in Kara’s office. She can go and grab them later when they aren’t being watched by everyone in the bullpen.

Cat joins them a second later but she must have locked her phone up in her hidden safe that Kara only knows about because she was trusted with the code after two and a half years of being her assistant but before that, she didn’t even know of its existence because it’s hidden behind a panel in her private bathroom. Come to think of it, that would have been a better place for the USB drive rather than a plant pot but she can’t be blamed for that choice when she was under pressure and also traumatized.

“Nia, I want you to have CatCo make a statement that the three of us have been taken to The White House. I want you to slyly add in that it wasn’t completely of our own will. Do that however you will and also notify Alex Danvers of our whereabouts, please. Also, notify HR that you and Franklin have been put in charge of this and work will whomever they set up to lead the company temporarily, most likely Marcus. He’s a bit of a pompous asshole but I’m sure you can deal with him. Good luck.”

Cat starts marching away so Kara and Lena say their goodbyes quickly and head after her, passing Franklin on the way. Kara taps his arm, “Nia will fill you in, go talk to her.”

They are loaded into a car very fast upon getting back to the lobby, probably because they are afraid they will be left out of the loop again and will be forced to take actual action to bring them in and have that plastered all over the news too.

Kara takes Lena’s hand as she sits between her girlfriend and her boss. It’s mostly for her sake but she can feel Lena’s tight grip on her in a way that very much shows that she needs this just as much as she does.

A few minutes into the car ride, hidden by the gentle flow of Kara’s skirt, Cat’s hand travels to rest gently over the top of Kara’s. Not grabbing, just resting. Kara’s not sure if it’s for her benefit or for Cat’s but she’s not moving that hand. She’ll wait for Cat to move it first.

A while goes by of the silent car ride, nobody talking at all. The Governor is in another car but there are guards in the row behind them in the car and also one beside the driver, not that they could make a move because there is a very obvious screen between all of the rows of seats meaning that they are completely contained. They don’t have to try the doors to know they are locked.

The car pulls up at a familiar place. A smaller airport that is used for private planes, one that both Cat and Lena have used on a multitude of occasions and one that Kara has thanks to Lena. She’s not forgetting it in a hurry either. She’s not going to have the opportunity to get the same treatment on this flight though, these guards do not want a show of Lena railing Kara into unconsciousness on the plane, unfortunately.

The door is pulled open and a guard ushers them out, his jacket pushed back behind the holster on his hip, showing off his gun, probably purposeful.

They climb out one by one and are told to stay put. The car pulls away and parks a little way away back towards the actual parking lot.

Cat leans into the pair. “No talking on this trip, we are being listened to so until we know for sure what is happening, you stay quiet.” She leans halfway back before remembering something and leaning back in. “Also, never leave your purses unattended.”

Lena lowers her voice. “Got it.”

“Kara?” Cat asks, needing her confirmation too.

“Got it, too.”

“Good.”

The Governor meanders over, looking all too proud of herself for getting them here. She’s done her job so she doesn’t care about much else. “I’m glad you’ve made the right choice. You will be directed to board soon and accommodation will be provided for you upon your arrival. Ms Danvers, I assume your meeting with The President will be almost immediate, I believe that your meeting has been prioritized.”

“Thanks for the update,” Kara says, her voice monotone.

“You’re so very welcome.” The Governor’s voice is so full of egotistical smugness that it makes them want to either puke on her expensive heels or push her over and it’s hard to tell which is the better choice.

Lena shakes her head at her as she walks away but that one gesture says far more than any words could but Kara knows what words she would say, she can practically hear them ringing in her head and it’s enough to make a sailor cringe.

The three of them look up at the plane. It’s sleek and modern, definitely worth a pretty penny and it’s taking them somewhere they don’t really want to go. It’s taking them somewhere full of unknowns they don’t know how to deal with.

All they know is that while they know what’s waiting for them when they get off the plane physically, they can’t prepare themselves for what’s going to be waiting for them otherwise. They can only hope it’s something good. They like cake. Cake would be good. They have a feeling it’s not going to be cake.

Read the next chapter early on Patreon here!

[auromelt]

since all four are played by idols, who among fujio tsukasa ryo and kohei do you think can sing and who can’t

oh i like this question 👁️ i’ve thought about it before, when the four of them released that ost (which btw is gunning for my soty on spotify wrapped). the actors are all such great singers it makes me feel a bit crazy that we’ll probably never get another song from them together 😒 but anyways onto the question! and i’m gonna add a little bit of karaoke headcanon because i’m mentally ill and i can’t stop thinking about it now.

can sing: ryo, tsukasa

can’t sing: fujio

will not ever sing unless for ryo: kohei

all four actors sing very well btw, so this next part purely refers to the characters. just a disclaimer. i spent some time on godforsaken nct stan twt the ppl there are literally insane.

headcanons

let’s imagine them in a karaoke setting. somehow all four of them ended up in a room together and no fights have erupted. here they’re just friends and not enemies where one side tried to kidnap and murder the other.

this will be a bit shippy because well… hehe :3 if you don’t wanna see that just stop reading at the part about the bill

fujio’s the first to grab the mic and he sqwaks into it. his lack of talent is absolutely incredible. tsukasa’s ears actually bleed a little.

like if anyone’s watched kaguya-sama love is war, it’s like shirogane trying to sing. he simply shouldn’t.

i imagine like… an akb song playing or something. or maybe like yoasobi and LiSA. but whoever it is, fujio is ruining the prestige of their musical careers by singing their songs.

but he’s having so much fun that nobody actually has the heart to stop him and he thinks he sounds great.

“nobody” until kohei snaps and grabs the mic and shoves it into ryo’s hands instead, instead of telling fujio he literally sucks, he just accuses him of hogging the mic and says it’s ryo’s turn

fujio pulls out the second mic and is like great suzaki lets duet 🤩 and tsukasa’s like erm no. and snatches the mic away and tsukasa and ryo do a duet which actually sounds pretty great

fujio: “you guys are just okay i guess :/” amagai: “you’re literally delusional”

anyways back to tsukasa and ryo, they sound incredible alone and together, it’s literally like listening to a live concert. fujio’s always known tsukasa can sing so he’s not surprised but this is all of their first times hearing ryo sing and who knew he possessed pipes like that. kohei might have to nepo him into a singing career at the end of the session

one song later and ryo’s trying to pass kohei the mic and kohei's like hell no. he already had no plans to sing but going after tsukasa and ryo is basically like trying to kill his own pride. he urges ryo to go ahead and tells him he liked hearing ryo sing, which makes ryo blush and tsukasa roll his eyes.

after a few songs, since they’re fair, they let fujio back on the mic before he can start sulking over it. back to torture. kohei walks out for “air” but really he’s just sick of hearing fujio’s voice

meanwhile, ryo seems to be the only person to not realise fujio can’t sing and he enjoys singing with fujio so they do a duet with the two microphones they were provided and fujio is delighted. he decides ryo has to be his karaoke buddy from now on because he’s “finally found someone who appreciates his talent and real music”

kohei ends up with the bill even though he didn’t even sing once and tsukasa and fujio leave immediately like peace out have fun settling that

szam part :3 (separated bc i feel nice today. don’t get used to it. szam are soulmates in my head.)

first, whether they’re dating or not is completely up to u, but there are definitely feelings involved 🙏

since fujio and tsukasa dipped, kohei and ryo are alone now and kohei’s like goddamn they’re finally gone and he drags ryo back to the room and extends their session another 45 minutes and tosses the mic to ryo like okay sing for me

kohei picks out all the songs from the machine that he wants ryo to sing for him and ryo does without a complaint, happy that kohei likes his voice, even if he’s a little shy with kohei’s gaze fixated on him while he sings and there are no more other people to lessen the intensity of the atmosphere

kohei makes sure ryo drinks enough water so his throat doesn’t shrivel up from all the singing and he kinda feels like a manager of a top idol which is not a pleasant feeling because in what world would he ever have to take orders from anyone? but it’s ryo so he just finds it kinda cute instead.

when the final song comes on, it’s a duet and ryo hesitates a little before offering kohei the other mic and looking at him with pleading eyes and kohei cant say no to those eyes or ryo’s hopeful expression. he takes the mic and joins ryo for the duet

kohei’s voice is mid. he’s not awful like fujio but he’s not good like ryo and tsukasa it’s just extremely mid. but because ryo is a bum loser who is in love with him, kohei sounds amazing to him and they finish the duet together with ryo beaming at him and kohei just smiling back, both fond and exasperated.

did i ever mention that kohei is like completely incapable of denying ryo anything in the auromelt cinematic universe? because he can’t

kohei makes ryo promise he’ll go with kohei to a studio he plans to rent and record some songs so kohei can add them to his playlist and he Would offer to make ryo an industry plant in the music industry as well but he doesn’t because he can’t imagine ryo getting fans and him having to share ryo’s attention

anyways big tl;dr ryo is unexpectedly the best singer of the four followed closely by tsukasa and then there’s a wall and then it’s kohei and then there’s 6 more walls and behind them is fujio. on that note, fujio and ryo are now karaoke buddies who go every 3 weeks or so. kohei always joins them just to listen to ryo, but he only sings when no one else but ryo is around.

[moonlightdancer26]

I think your rude anon is asking about the if James cheated on Lily, would Lily be mad question. I will answer it for you:

James would be hurt but he loves Lily so he would forgive her.

If James cheated on Lily she would dump his ass, as he deserves, and if he cheated on her with Sirius, she would set them both on fire and not have any regrets.

Sirius wouldn't let James cheat on Lily anyway, because Lily is obviously the catch. Sirius also isn't going to be the other man. He's not like that.

I used to not mind Prongsfoot as a pairing until Prongsfoot shippers started doing what Jegulus shippers do - bash Lily, make her out to be the villain, let her be walked all over, make her just there to give Prongsfoot a kid - and now I am beginning to hate Prongsfoot because they are doing Lily dirty.

Lily>>>>James. Time for everyone to get their heads around that, thanks.

I agree with you on some parts ig. I think James would forgive her because he knows that the fact that she settled for him was already a huge jackpot, but I think he would still resent her because of how badly it hurt him and at times he might use it as a gotcha card during arguments. In a “oh really? you’re telling me I’ve gone too far? what about the time you cheated on me and I still chose to forgive you?” kind of way.

If James cheated on Lily, I think there’s a high chance she’d leave him. Saying “high chance” and not “definitely” because homegirl seems to be a really forgiving person when it comes to James, so I can’t be sure 💀 If he cheated on her with Sirius, then yes I do think she would light both of them on fire.

I also think Sirius wouldn’t let James cheat on Lily, I reckon he’d be like “Prongs, you’ve already bagged her, why would you try to ruin that for some random hookup?” I think if James ended up cheating anyway, Sirius would obviously be extremely angry with him but would still agree to keep it quiet from Lily and would make James promise to not do it again.

I used to not mind Prongsfoot as a pairing until Prongsfoot shippers started doing what Jegulus shippers do - bash Lily, make her out to be the villain, let her be walked all over, make her just there to give Prongsfoot a kid - and now I am beginning to hate Prongsfoot because they are doing Lily dirty.

This is the part where I completely disagree with you dude. Not only do I not understand the sudden rant about Prongsfoot as a ship (the other anon was just talking about James cheating on Lily with Sirius + they’re clearly a troll anon) but I also can’t believe how incorrect that whole paragraph was?????? When have Prongsfoot shippers ever done that to Lily? Literally almost all of us love Lils and ship her with someone else, never in my life have I seen a Prongsfoot shipper use Lily as a surrogate or villain for their own ship. Prongsfoot is already a criminally unpopular ship, overshadowed by ships like Wolfstar and Jegulus, and we are a much healthier community than the two ships I’ve just mentioned. I genuinely have no clue where you’re getting this info from, anon. And this blog doesn’t stand for Prongsfoot slander, thanks.

[tanglednlove]

hello!! i just found your video on the wire braid for the tangled the series doll and i was SO happy to see you’re still active 🥹 I casually collect tts merch and just today i received the winter playset secondhand….All things considered rapunzels hair is in pretty good shape, but i wanted to know how it worked just to be sure since its still a little loose + dirty and if i could eventually be confident enough i’d like to give it a good wash and redo it. But because they’re so rare nowadays im really worried of doing anything drastic because i don’t want to ruin them….😭 So i’m leaving her as is for now but knowing just how the wire is tied in and everything is SOOO so helpful.

It’s so hard to find info about these dolls at all so i was wondering if you had any idea what material their hair is made of…? 🥹 Cassandras hair is REALLY sticky and crunchy even after a few washes and i really want to restyle it but i don’t want to do anything that might mess it up. Also, this may be a silly question, but do you think it’s possible to redo rapunzel’s braid while keeping the wire in? I don’t mind removing it but i do like how posable it is. Im assuming its not possible but i thought i might as well ask since it seems like you’ve gotten to customize them a few times.

anyways either way thank you so much for making videos about those dolls!! i really want to preserve them as much as possible bc they’re very precious to me 🥹🥹🫶🫶🫶

Hello to you, too! I am happy to hear my old video was helpful! Thank you for watching it!🤗 I mention Goo Gone in that video, but a boil wash should be enough for cleaning purposes.

Rapunzel's hair is nylon and I think Cassandra's is too. Rapunzel's braid could definitely be redone with the wire still attached. But, the beads depend on the elastics to stay in place. The beads are just strings of beads, they are not a complete circle- if that mskes sense😊 So, a mental note of how they unwind will help in recreating their original position.

Congratulations on receiving the winter playset! That is a good set of dolls and accessories.🙌