#this lead to blast getting super worried and anxious as she didn’t want to see her only friend get hurt or stolen from her

[pocketramblr]

The followup to the Thought™

"Ugh." You say, waving to the screen. "Look at that, now that's who should have been the main character-"

"Oh?" I say, a small glowing figure appearing in front of you. "I can show you that if you want, wish granted." I wave my magic wand, and you blink to find yourself watching a different universe's show.

It's about a blond boy, with a minor superpower that's difficult to work with. He only has one friend, with major anxiety. Both of them want to be heroes, which is about the coolest and nicest thing anyone can be in this world.

But the blond boy is only in middle school. He doesn't get the best grades, he's a bit of a class clown, a bit of a delinquent. He's not exactly cool or over powered, but his earnest, bright nature endears him to the watchers and readers of the story. He's nice, and not worried about competition. He'll put cheering up his best friend over studying- and he'll put just enjoying video games together over training his power on his own.

He doesn't, by the way, train on his own. He makes meager progress in the class provided, and works hard when he's thinking about it, but he honestly doesn't even know where to start with his power.

He takes the entrance exam, and by some manner of luck, manages to permeate through blasts and rubble while shoving other students out of the way. He's used to watching out for his best friend, at least, and that carries over in his natural, if clumsy, attempts to help others here.

With more luck, he is accepted into the school on those points. So is his best friend, though they're in different classes. He still doesn't have many friends, but they meet a new girl in his bf's class: she's gorgeous and powerful- the most raw energy in any of their quirks, and no anxiety or complications holding her back.

She's a bit of a ditz, though, a bit much for others to hang around all the time, so even though she should be a shoe in fit the most popular, she slides easily into their group instead.

The fandom likes her a lot, and you feel impatient. This isn't the story you wanted to see, not really.

"Don't worry," I say. "Time flies when you're actually a school story instead of a daily battle with villains story."

And it does- they compete in the first sports festival. The main character, to little surprise, doesn't do well. But he manages to keep himself and the others smiling and laughing through it, and that brings the attention of the mentor.

The mentor that you like, of course, the mentor you believe was right.

The mentor trains the main character. It's hard, but he can actually break down what exactly he needs to improve on, and now that he has support, the main character takes it seriously. Like all children do, he rises to the expectations on him when he's given the material to do so.

Not made to find the material. The kid would have never dreamed of just assuming and asking such a high ranking hero to focus on him. Rather like another boy, but we'll get to him later.

It's another year. The girl tried her best at the beauty pageant. The best friend tried his best at the liscence exam. The main character has still been training at his internship.

"His second year." You say, thinking. "Now this is when All Might shows up in the timeline, ten months before February in what would be Mirio's second year."

I raise an eyebrow, but wave my magic wand.

All Might does appear. The mysterious top hero, always in the background- ads, all over the mentor's office. They used to work together, but no one in this universe knows anything more than that.

The mentor and the principal happily tell the main character that the number one hero wants to meet with him directly! The boy is nervous, of course, excited, of course, and a tad confused.

But meet they do.

And offer his quirk, he does.

The episode and chapter end on that, of course, and you feel a surge of excitement. Finally!

You look around and realize others in this fandom do not see it that way. Many critique the twist as coming out of nowhere, with no build up that it was even possible, breaking the established rules for no reason. Many others are proud of how much the main character has to work at the difficult power, and do not want him to have a second before he masters this one. Some feel it's a trap- a secret test of character, or a villain in disguise who will ruin him. Some wonder if it's more metaphorical- he's offering the power of support and more guidance, maybe a connection, but not his literal superpower.

You do not know how to feel about it, but you know this will be for the better. He will be perfect for it.

At the beginning of the next update, the boy turns down the quirk. Grateful, more than he could say, but he's worked so hard for his own power and he's not even up to snuff with it yet. He's unsure he's the best option. The girl, after all, is used to weilding such power, maybe he should try her, maybe he should keep looking.

The top hero nods, and asks if he can visit again later, if he can find no other. The boy is a good hero after all, and maybe he needs to believe in himself as much as he is telling his friend to. It will be hard to train a second quirk, yes, but he can manage. It will make him stronger and pay off, after all.

The boy agrees, tentatively. No one can really say no to the number one hero, after all.

"Ok." You say, nodding. "There's an opening. It can build more, since that's how the story is here, way more slowburn."

I shrug. That's what happens when you start the story three years early, but whatever.

The story goes on. The main character does better in the sports festival, but not by any measure good. His friend finds a mentor, a character popular. Much warmer than the blond's mentor. The girl gets a really good mentor, a top tenner.

And then they start to get really good. They're used to training now, and getting it all bit individually and together. The mentor is motivated as of by fury, pushing more and more. And the main character grows to reach it.

Another year. They're seniors, now. Just one year left before they're pros, but they're already about at that level. They're called the Big Three.

The third year is different. Chaos every few weeks. A class of first years attacked.

"Oh, because All Might is still looking for a successor among the students- checking over the freshmen but they won't be able to compare."

I hum in a way that could be interpreted as agreement.

The sports festival. Finally, real victory. They do so well, even with one anxious at crowds. And one that is seemingly allergic to staying clothed. They do well.

The chaos continues, always at the sides. The others in this universe who follow the story talk about that and the offer the top hero made. Is he getting weaker? Did that power leak somehow and now someone wants it?

The tension grows, especially for you. If the hero doesn't give the main character the power before the summer....

The main character doesn't get the power before the summer. The hero falls on tv while the blond and his friends watch in horror.

After the summer, the main character decides to meet the freshmen. You wonder who will replace a certain someone's seat, or if this is playing the original quirkless hero storyline.

When the main character challenges the class of freshmen and you see that sparking green, you seethe.

"I said I wanted Mirio to have OfA! Why is he-"

"Actually," when I speak, you cannot. "You asked for him to be the main character. He still is. A beloved one, even."

"You know what I meant!"

"Perhaps. But then you asked for another change, and so I allowed All Might to meet with him a few days before he would have in the old timeline. He had a chance, he turned it down. Why are you mad at him having his own ambitions and autonomy?"

"He was supposed to take it! He's the worthier option, and you know it."

"What makes him worthy?"

"He works hard!"

"So does Izuku."

"He worked hard before he was offered everything by All Might!"

"Yes," I will admit. "Though, that's only because he met Sir before he met All Might. Were you so focused on how slow it was going that you didn't actually watch what he was doing?"

You will not admit to anything, still angry.

"He'll get another chance." I remind you.

You huff, but the story continues on.

The main character takes a liking to the boy you despise. So does the fandom, dubbing him the cutest little kohai. He's awkward and eager and sunny, like a fusion of the main trio.

He's also impulsive, and on their first patrol together they run into who will obviously be the big bad of the arc- and his abused daughter.

The fandom is split on if the story is going to go with a "In this arc, the blond must pass his experience on patience to a boy who it all about speed and too naive" or if it's "In this arc, it's the mouth of babes- the boy will inspire the main character to do good more impulsively."

You sit and wait for it to be "the boy will finally fork over the power he's now spent over a year working to hold and use to the real main character."

The raid happens. We finally see how the main character met his best friend. It's very sweet. The girl is a lead character and gets focus on her fight too, though the two freshmen working with her don't really. There's another funky freshman boy who turns out to be more like the best friend than we thought.

Finally, we get to the main fight.

And the main character is shot, quirk erased. For good, if the villain who's really not actually that good an example of a scientist is to be believed.

"Oh. What if the former top hero offers his power again, after this arc? It's about loss but always moving on?" The fandom asks. They aren't sure if the buildup to this is better than before, but it's certainly am interesting turn, and not as controversial as the last time.

The best friend saves the day by awakening right at the perfect moment to drag the teacher in. The quirk is kinda super deus ex machina for this arc though.

At the hospital, the mentor dies. The former number one hero is there.

The fandom wonders whether to hope or fear how long he'll wait to replace the mentor and the quirk.

You wait, knowing it's soon.

Then the freshman offers his quirk, and the fandom flips again.

"We should have known!" They cry. "He had super speed and strength the whole time, maybe the sparks are from his own quirk, but it's the same power! Oh, this hurts much more than just if it had been the retired hero!"

Once again, the fandom divides. Many can't bear to see the kohai they love shoved aside after this one moment. Will be be able to use his original power? Then they won't mind the strength for the blond. Some say to wait for his power to come back. A few pipe up about the possibility of him doing it quirkless. He has trained physically too, after all these years.

"No thanks," he says again. He does smile though- just like Sir told him to- and tells his kohai that he’ll do great things with the power, just like All Might did. Tells him that he already has.

You're past the point of fury now.

"Why?" You demand.

"Keep watching." My tone is cold. "Keep watching, the next five months where he does nothing but babysit a girl in hopes she'll magically make himt not quirkless again. He doesn't even ask if he can be a quirkless hero. He doesn't even go to school to keep training. You demanded the other boy figure it out himself. This boy doesn't. He just hopes the same thing that did this to him can undo it."

You don't know what to say about that.

"Neither took it seriously in middle school. That's the nature of middle schoolers. Neither of them tried to go solo quirkless, when no support was provided. But they're both good kids. Hard workers. Heroic. They love each other, honestly, they're friends. It's sweet. And it's sad that it took me doing this for you to see it."

I shake my head.

"Sir Nighteye never saw how Mirio was much more like Izuku than All Might. That was his mistake, because he didn't know the meaning of worthy. Not that it was his choice to make even if he had. There's no magic to this. OfA isn't Excalibur or Mjölnir. All sorts of people have had it. And All Might wasn't doing much to train before he found Nana ether, as much as he got into trouble. OfA is more about connections they have to each other. It's about people's relationships. As it happens, that just doesn't include Mirio and wouldn't be at its most meaningful if it did."

"You just are too much a Deku stan and hate Mirio-"

"Accuse me of hating Mirio again, and I will leave you here." I threaten, pointing my wand at you. "Now. Did you learn your lesson?"

You grumble, but you do nod.

"Good." I say, before waving my wand one last time. You're back where you were before, not a trace of me or magic.

The lesson, though, sticks.

[sword-brainrot]

Oh, um! May I request a matchup? I know these can be draining to do so feel free to skip me if you want!!

So, um hi! Im a 19 yo translation student! Everyone uses she/her when talking to me, but you can use whatever you like, I dont mind pronouns! Im really shy and kinda anxious when talking to people, but I'm completely see-through ;; cant tell a lie to save my life haha Im super curious abt practically anything and I love to learn new things! When I have to get work done, I make sure it looks shiny and perfect! (even tough I procastinate on it until there's almost no time left,,,,) I prefer indoors because loud sounds make me somewhat panicky??;;;; and in my free time I play games, learn useless stuff and sleep... y'know, the usual ^^;

As for what I'd like in a parter.... I want someone who cares about me ;; I know it may be a bit too much but I guess I can dream right? :') As for myself,,,, idk id be a completely mess ;; Im good at listening I think! but when it comes to affection Im at a loss and I just get embarrassed,,,, I blush at everything and when Im put in a spot I try to laugh it off ;;

Um, also... Im sure you already noticed but I have some self issues so you may want to take this into consideration???? maybe???? Im sorry I had to bring this up;;; i tought it could help you get a better picture of myself haha???? uuu;; (um also i apologize for this huge wall of text, i know its all over the place.... dont know how to organize it;;;;)

Oh, and I don't care about sword types nor I have a preference! I love all the slashy boys equally ♡

Thank you for taking the time to read this, I really appreciate it 💖💖

Oh I would never skip your request! If I ever get drained, I would take a small break. I wanna do your requests dear! Feel free to request as much as you want, I have a blast whenever I can write and make someone smile because of it. Don't worry about bothering me or anything, seeing requests always makes me smile and excited to write 💖🌺

I Match You With...

🌸 Ishikirimaru 🌸

♡  Ishikirimaru is a very calm and friendly guy, he would understand very well how scary social interaction can be for some people. He would never push you too far and make sure he knows your limits. He would offer you to have tea with him or help him clean just so you both can bond together and let you know what he does want to be around you. He doesn't mind if you don't talk much because you are shy! Ishikirimaru doesn't talk too much in general but doesn't mind starting the conversation and having a short discussion about things that may interest you or your thoughts on things.

♡  Don't worry about ever making him angry or annoyed, it is very hard to do that. He is very easy going and cares a lot about other people. The only way he would ever get actually angry at you is if you say something insensitive about how people's lives in war don't matter or something along those lines. He was a sword kept in a temple that often got prayed to for healing the warriors who came back from battle with deadly wounds. That is the only thing that would actually get under his skin. He cares a lot about the people around him and even the people he doesn't know, he prays for all of their well beings. Even yours. He cares about you a lot as well and will tell you often that you matter to everyone. He is aware that you would never say something to upset him on purpose. As long as the two of you talk it out and apologize to each other, he will forget it even happened. He wouldn't let one slip of the tongue to ruin the relationship.

♡  He tries hard to make sure he never upsets anyone and thinks over his words carefully, but even he makes mistakes and words don't come out how they planned. He will make the most effort to apologize and make sure his words didn't hurt you badly. If they did, he would spend hours on end talking it out and making sure you know that he would never mean anything that would hurt you. He cares about you a lot and your smile is his favorite.

♡  Ishikirimaru might be a little pushy when you talk badly about yourself. He loves everything about you and it hurts him when you think you are lesser than everyone. He will often try to stop you before you go too far with talking down upon yourself and give you plenty of compliments, even if they embarrass you. He wants you to know that you are deserving of love and that you are much better than you give yourself credit for. You have your own talents and people cherish you for being you. They want you in their life because you are you.

♡  "Aruji, I haven't been human long but I understand that being human is a complicated task. The mind can be a cruel one and the deadliest thing to our souls. My words may not mean much but please trust me when I say that you like you for you. You will see things you do not like about yourself because you are stuck with yourself constantly so you will pick up things that others will not. We are all hard on ourselves. Life is even worse on us. So take a deep breath and let yourself receive a little kindness. You deserve it. You give out so much to everyone so you need to know that it is okay to love things about yourself and be proud of who you are. You will make mistakes and not everyone will be your friend but that is okay, because you are human and you have your own life. Surround yourself with people that will love and appreciate you for who you are now. I love and appreciate you for who you are, aruji. So.. Don't be so hard on yourself, alright? It hurts my fragile heart when I see you beat yourself up for small mistakes. It's okay to stumble at times, just get up again... okay? I'll lend you my hand as well."

♡  As you can tell, Ishikirimaru is a very good listener. His whole life as a sword was to listen to those of the pained and give guidance. Even if he couldn't exactly do that in his sword form, he can do that now! He will listen to everything you have to say. Don't be shy to ramble to him. He will give you a happy smile as he listens. Tell him about the things that make you happy, what make you angry, what makes you laugh, and what makes you sad. Ishikirimaru will be right by your side, offering tea and a shoulder if you need it. You aren't alone and he will make sure you know that you don't have to face these thoughts alone.

♡  Just as how you are see through and can't lie, Ishikirimaru has a similar issue. He has a very hard time ever lying and chooses to never lie. The only time he will lie is if it is to protect others. He will often put himself in the painful position in missions so others don't have to face the hardship. He tries to not do it often because he knows that people care about him and he doesn't have to face things alone, but he would rather not see anyone sad if he can help it!

♡  He finds your embarrassed face the cutest thing in the world. Don't be scared to tell him to stop if the compliments become too much for you to handle! He will laugh it off and apologize for going too far with his comments. As stated above, he doesn't lie. So just know that every compliment he gives you is a very sincere comment that he means with his whole heart. Ishikirimaru doesn't need much affection, as long as you show that you simply care about him, he is happy. He would like to hold your hand from time to time but otherwise, he wouldn't force you to do anything you don't wish to do. Go at your own pace in the relationship, he won't rush you!

♡  Ishikirimaru will tell you anything you wish to learn! He might not have a library of knowledge of the past due to being stuck in a shrine for most of his life but he had also studied and learned about the history he came from. If you take an interest in his prayers and religion, he would gladly tell you all the tales he is aware of and teach you the cleansing sermon he often does to give positive spiritual energy. It is something that brings him peace of mind and makes him happy to talk about, so if you are willing to learn about what makes him who he is today and what makes him happy, he would be overjoyed to share all his knowledge to you.

♡  He understands very well the appeal of getting work done to the best of your ability and making it look the best you can. He wouldn't label himself a perfectionist but he does want to do the best he can. Often with cleaning. You will often see him stuck in a room all day because he wants to make sure it is spotless before he comes out and continues work else where. Though... by the time he is done... It is dinner time. Perhaps the two of you could work together and get work done to the point you are both happy with it.

♡  Ishikirimaru is also someone who happens to stay inside for the most part. The only time he goes outside would be to enjoy tea in the sun or if he has to work the field/horse keeping. Ishikirimaru is a very soft spoken and gentle man so you don't have to worry about him every raising his voice and scaring you. If there is ever a loud noise, whether it is other swords or a storm outside, he will gently hold your hand and try to calm you down. He will assure you that it's okay to not like loud noises but he will make sure that nothing hurts you. He will even try to lead you away to somewhere that may be a little more quiet. Giving you a distraction to get your mind off the noise. He wants nothing more than you to feel comfortable and safe.

♡  Depending on the game, he may want to play with you! He tends to like card games even though he is very easy to read and often loses. He tends to laugh about it after when he realizes that he was accidentally showing his hand every time he set down his cards to get a sip of tea. If it's video games, he would prefer to just watch you play and talk to you while you enjoy the game. He isn't the biggest fan but still enjoys to watch! Ishikirimaru is a pretty good teacher! So if you wish to study with him, he would be flattered that you wished to study with him out of everyone. He is very understanding that some material is hard to memorize out of no where. He would just softly correct you and tell you to work on it a little more. He rewards you with sweets every time you do really well on any test he gives you to test how much you remember.

♡  Ishikirimaru would be the most understanding and gentle partner. He wants nothing more than you being comfortable and happy. He would work hard on you slowly forgiving yourself when you make a mistake and love yourself a little more. He would never give up on you and be there if you ever needed.

[rainandhotchocolate]

Blackout - Part 6

A/N Part 666666 sorry that these aren’t super long, but consistency over long right??? idk anyway this one is a bit nicer, promise ;) love ya’ll xx enjoy!

Y/N took a deep breath as Lily pushed open the door to her cottage. She had remembered the area as they walked through, having taken the train instead of apparating. Y/N knew Lily was anxious to get back to James as he’d apparently been in a bad fight but appreciated being able to go outside and get a feel for the countryside again. It had begun to snow, and Godric’s hollow was covered in a light dusting of white, not yet destroyed by footprints and muggle snow clearer driving through the streets.

She could remember most of it, bits and piece of the area felt new, but she felt comfortable here, at home. There was a part of the area that made her feel a bit sad too, but she couldn’t figure out why.

“Come on, you’ll freeze outside. And Turpin will kill me if you get an infection one day out of hospital.” Lily smiled at her, holding the door open for her.

Y/N smiled back and lugged her small bag through the doorway. She’d just packed what Sirius had brought for her, unsure if she needed anything else, not quite sure what clothes she wanted or needed. She was welcomed to the Potter’s house by a blast of warm air, forcing her to drop the bag and shuck off her coat to place on the coatrack by the doorway.

“Come on, I’ve got James cooking a roast – don’t worry I did all the marinating earlier,” Lily winked at Y/N and walked passed her, picking up the bag before Y/N could and heading into the living room. Y/N followed close behind her, opening and closing her fists slowly.

She was greeted by a loud yell that made her jump.

“Welcome home!” a group of people were grinning up at her, a large banner over the fireplace that kept changing from ‘Welcome home’ to ‘We missed you’, and glasses of what looked like firewhiskey sitting on the coffee table.

“After the welcome home party, that is,” Lily staying by her side, grinning widely but gripping tightly on her hand all the same. “Is this ok?” She whispered softly as people began moving towards her.

“Yes, thank you.” Y/N gripped Lily’s hand in return, turning to face Marlene and Mary who ran in to give her a tight hug.

Music was blaring loudly, something that Sirius and Remus seemed to know off by heart as they sang loudly on top of the couch as Lily yelled at them to clean up after themselves or they’ll be dead by tomorrow morning.

Y/N had found herself sidling to the corner momentarily, after saying hello to Frank and Alice who showed off their wedding rings in earnest happiness. Y/N didn’t want to tell them that it made her feel awful, so she smiled and hugged and slipped into the corner by the window when they went to get another drink.

“You feeling alright?” James nudged her shoulder, making her jump.

“Yeah, sorry, just a bit overwhelmed you know.” Y/N plastered on a smile but James rolled his eyes.

“It must feel really shit.”

“I mean-“

“Nah, don’t worry I won’t be offended,” James winked at her, leaning against the window as well, “But in all seriousness, you don’t need to fake it. I mean to anyone, but definitely not to me. I mean at a bare minimum I’m going to be much more offended if I have to deal with that pathetic simle all night.”

Y/N snorted, shaking her head at him.

“I’m so sorry it’s inconvenienced you.”

“It’s ok, I’m sure you’ll make it up to me eventually.” James nodded solemnly, “Perhaps by talking to Sirius?”

“I don’t know what to say to him,” Y/N dropped her head to her glass, wincing as she sipped down some firewhiskey. “I just… I just feel like I’m letting him down.”

“Well maybe –“

“Please don’t say it’s a remnant of what I felt for him.” Y/N shot him a look and he raised his hands in defeat.

“Ok ok, I just… look feelings or not, you guys got along so well. I honestly think he would be helpful at the moment, even if it’s just as a friend.” James’s gaze went to Sirius who was fake air guitaring as Remus played the drums beside him. Peter was cheering them along from the carpet, grinning stupidly. Y/N bit her lip.

“I just can’t stop thinking of him as Sirius Black, you know? High school prankster and playboy.”

“Bit over the top,” James snorted, “I think he dated three women.”

“Oh you know what I mean,” Y/N breathed out a laugh. “It just feels like he’s met me, but I haven’t, you know? Well that doesn’t really make sense, but like I don’t know. People keep forgetting that I can’t just pick up where we might have left off, even if I want to.”

James nodded his head slowly, not looking at her.

“I get that. And will keep it mind, even spread the word if you want.”

“Might not be a bad idea.”

James gave her shoulder a squeeze and slid off the wall, walking over to where Lily was swaying to the music, grabbing her hand to spin her in a quick circle. She laughed loudly, face illuminated. Y/N wondered if she had looked like that with Sirius, remembering the photo of the two of them dancing that Sirius had kept.

The next morning Y/N was curled into a ball in the guest room, her whole body aching. She couldn’t remember exactly what had happened the rest of the night, except for blurred moments of dancing and roast chicken and potatoes. She willed herself to open her eyes and kick off the covers, pulling herself out of bed. There was a strong smell of bacon wafting up the stairs towards her room and she smiled, letting it lead her down towards the kitchen and into a chair in the dining room.

“Good morning,” Sirius beamed at her, flipping a pancake in one pan whilst bacon cooked in the other. “Now I know you’re a little fuzzy on the details, but I’m about to prepare for you the greatest meal of your life.”

“You seem very sure of yourself.” Y/N smiled back at him, rubbing her eyes. The nice thing about being hungover was her body had seemed to ignore the partial panic that went through her, her heart rate keeping steady as she leant over the table.

“Look memory charms, smemory farms – your taste buds will never be the same.” Sirius pulled out some pancakes and placed them on the plate in front of her, then stacked bacon, maple syrup, and blueberries in a giant swirl across the plate. “There you go, I would say enjoy but I know you will.”

Y/N laughed, picking up the cutlery beside her and digging in.

“Holy Merlin.” She moaned, “It’s everything I could dream of. Salty, sweet, stupidly decadent for breakfast.”

“What can I say, I’m a genius with food.”

“I didn’t know you could cook!” Y/N continued to cut up the pancakes and eat, savouring each bite. Sirius sat down in front of her, serving himself and shrugging.

“My parents didn’t always… feed me, so I learnt how to cook when they were all asleep.”

Y/N paused at that, pancake and bacon bits still in her mouth as she looked up at him, shocked.

“Wha-,” She swallowed and tried again, “What?”

“Oh, right. Sorry, that was probably a bit too much information.” Sirius grimaced, scratching the back of his head, “I promise that’s not what I led with on our first date.”

“No, I just, they didn’t fucking feed you? Why the hell not?”

“They didn’t always agree with my values, or well actually, I never agreed with theirs.”

“That’s fucking despicable.”

Sirius barked a laugh, throwing his head back. It made Y/N want to smile.

“That’s what you said the first time I told you.”

“At least I’m consistent,” Y/N put her cutlery down. “is it… is it weird? Having to retell me things?”

“I mean yes, and no.” Sirius mumbled, his mouth full of food. “Well it’s weird yes, but at least I can not make the same mistakes I did the first time around.”

He grinned at her and she couldn’t help but to smile back at him. 

“So you made mistakes huh?” 

“Ahh a few, I won’t bother reminding you of them I think.”

“Well now that’s unfair! You know everything about me, it’s like you have a secret playbook.”

“No no no, it was unfair before, I had many more faults. This way you just see the sparkly version.” 

James pushed open the door to the kitchen, finding the two of them grinning to each other over the dining table. 

“Who’s sparkly?”

“Sirius apparently,” Y/N leant back in her chair, eyeing Sirius carefully. “I’ll find them you know.”

“Find what?”

“Alllll your faults,” Y/N grinned cheekily at him.

“I’m sure you will.”

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[chipper9906]

Bound To You - Chapter 11: Always Happy To Bleed For The Winchesters

< - - - Previous Chapter

WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 15

NOTE: Pairings and Ratings Will Change As Story Is Updated

Pairings: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester

Rating: General Audiences

Chapter Word Count: 7,338

Overall Word Count: 84,673

Status: Multi Chapter Fic - In Progress (11/?)

Chapter Preview:

The smug, knowing look that crossed Claire’s face was not one Dean was expecting at his stuttered answer (if it can even be called an answer), the young woman turning to Kaia with a roll of her eyes and a good-natured slap to the arm. “See, what did I tell you? Knew he’d do it eventually…”

“Uh… do what?” Dean asks.

“Oh, not much,” Claire says with a grin much too sly for Dean’s liking. “Me and Kaia just had a bet going on which one of you would confess to the other first. I bet Cas would do it first. Kaia bet you’d do it first, but I said you were way too emotionally constipated to manage something like that.”

“You just cost me ten bucks…” Kaia mumbled in Dean’s direction.

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Character Key For Telepathic Conversations

'Italic Text' - Castiel

'Bold Text' - Dean

  The second time Dean rides as a passenger in the Impala since… the incident… is different from the first time. That car ride home was nothing less than awkward, of stale silences and anxious side glances from his brother.

This time? Dean has a smile on his face. The mood is light, the silence replaced with soft rock blasting from the cassette player, of airy laughs from Eileen whenever he taps her shoulder from the backseat and tries to sign the lyrics to a song he’s taken a particular liking to, and Sam’s grunts of telling him to knock it off and stop distracting him; even when he’s got a smile on his face, too.

To put it simply… the hope is palpable. They’re celebrating like they’ve already got Cas back. Like they’ve already won.

Dean tries his best not to let his nerves at that show.

“You really should have let me call Jody ahead and let her know,” Sam throws at Dean over his shoulder as the sign for ‘Sioux Falls’ flashes by them.

“You telling me you’re not looking forward to seeing the look on their faces when they see me like this? And find out that Cas is chilling up here with me?” Dean retorts.

“But did you have to knock my phone out of my hands?” Sam complains, turning the Impala towards the exit ramp of the highway. “Concrete floors aren’t great for fragile glass screens, you know.”

“Your nerdy ass loves any chance to tinker with toys. I gave you a reason to replace your screen. You’re welcome.”

‘Considering you two live off of scammed credit cards, you’re very care-free with your expensive electronics.’

‘Thanks to Charlie, we don’t have to worry about that kind of stuff anymore. Nothing better than scamming credit card companies, Cas. Bastards do all they can to bleed people dry.’

‘If you say so. Perhaps you’d see it differently if you were actually earning a wage.’

‘Oh God, I forgot you didn’t properly get to ‘meet’ the us from the other world… They got paid to hunt monsters, and you know what? I’d rather live off credit card fraud and be myself than be… whatever the hell they were… assholes had their own damn plane…’

‘Are you saying you wouldn’t want your own plane?’

‘Don’t like flying Cas. Prefer to keep my feet on the ground, thank you very much.’

‘You don’t like flying?’

‘Hell no. Trapped in a stuffy metal tube with hundreds of other people, babies crying throughout the whole damn flight, eating overpriced and stale snacks? Oh, and the fact that I’m not in control of the plane whatsoever? And even if I was - if something were to go wrong? Not much you can do but hope you go quick.’

‘Oh. I suppose it’s different for me. I love… um, I loved flying. Plus there’s the fact that we as angels were designed for flying whereas you… were not.’

‘Yeah… and you have a few billion years’ experience over me with flying. Probably as natural to you as walking.’

‘Hmm… I suppose that’s where angels and humans are different. Our ability of flight… it’s part of who we are. A major part of what makes up our true form is our wings. The ability to travel the entire globe, even to anywhere within the Universe if we so pleased – in the span of a second? I’ll admit, it was something I took for granted.’

‘You still miss your wings, huh? I mean, I know you still have them, but…’

‘But they’re broken. It’s okay Dean, you can say it. And, yes, I still miss them. I always will. But it gets easier. You adapt to these things. You learn… there’s more important things.’

‘Yeah… that’s… that’s some words to live by, Cas. Kind of wish I could have seen your wings. I mean, I know you did the whole shadow puppet thing when we first met to show off – and don’t deny that wasn’t what you were doing; I got that smug face of yours seared into my brain. Hell, not even just your wings. I wish I could have been one of those ‘special people’ who get to see your true form.’

‘You… you do?’

‘Course I do, Cas. Sure, I think of you and I see Jimmy’s face, and… well, Jimmy’s face and his body are you now, in a way, but… I don’t know, you’ve seen both my physical form and my soul, and then… I’ve never been able to see the real face of the angel I’ve fallen for.’

‘I don’t think you’d truly want to see me… an angel's true form is… ‘unsettling’, to say the least.’

‘Cas, I don’t care if you’re really ‘the size of the Chrysler building’ and have multiple animal heads like Zacharia did. You’re Cas. You could be in Jimmy’s body, in some random dude's body, your true form, whatever. It doesn’t matter to me. So long as I know it’s you in there? I’ll love whatever is staring back at me.’

‘…what if I was possessing Sam?’

‘Not only did you ruin the moment, but you made it super weird. I’m kinda impressed.’

“What are you two gossiping about now?” Sam’s amused voice brought Dean back into the present, realizing with a startle that they were already pulling into Jody’s driveway.

“Eh, nothing much. Cas just wanted to know If I’d still bone him while he was possessing you.”

“What?!” Sam spluttered, slamming on the brakes a little harder than he intended.

‘That’s not what I meant!’

“That’s messed up, Cas!” Sam turned wide-eyed to face Dean, his startled and disgusted look boring straight through to Cas. “I hope you told him no, Dean!”

‘Technically, you haven’t said no-.’

‘NO, Cas! I would still love you, but that is a line I am not willing to cross.’

“What the hell is happening?” Eileen had her arms braced against Baby’s dash, not at all expecting the rather sudden stop.

“You don’t want to know,” Sam signed towards Eileen, giving Dean one last offended look before switching off the Impala’s engine.

Sam and Eileen had only just transferred Dean from the Impala into his wheelchair when the front door to the Mill’s home swung open, an already welcoming smile plastered on Jody’s face as she took in the sight of Sam and Eileen.

“I thought I heard the Impala’s obnoxiously loud engine,” Jody joked, leaving the front door open a crack as she steps out into the driveway. “Where’s-,”

Jody’s face dropped as Sam shifted to the side, catching sight of an oddly cheerful-looking Dean Winchester sat within a wheelchair. She hadn’t meant for her mouth to drop open the way that it did, or for her mind to fully expect for Dean to jump straight out of the wheelchair and all three of them to burst into laughter at her reaction in what would be some sick prank. But he doesn’t. Instead, he wheels closer to her, the cheerful smile on his face wavering as the seconds tick by.

“Okay Sammy, maybe you were right… Probably should have warned her…”

“What is…” Is all Jody can get out at first, clearing her throat and shaking her head at the ridiculousness of the situation. “What happened?”

“Now that is one hell of a story…” Dean says with a half-hearted laugh. “And it ties into the reason we’re here.”

“I did want to tell you first, but Dean decided he wanted to be an asshole about it,” Sam offers, giving Jody an awkward wave. “Oh, and… this is Eileen.’

“Hello…” Eileen greeted the sheriff with a wave that was somehow even more awkward than Sam’s.

“Right… well, um… you should probably come in…” Jody says, glancing back to the front door. “I’m guessing you’re not just here to catch up?”

“Afraid not. We, uh… we actually need to speak to Claire, too.” Sam said.

Jody frowned at that, crossing her arms across her chest as she stared them down. Typically, when the Winchesters needed to speak to you, it was either because you were in trouble, or they were about to get you into trouble. “…What for?”

“It’s probably best Claire joins us first. Just so we can get the whole story out in one go.” Sam tells her.

“You’re telling me that the reason Dean is… you know… ties into you needing Claire?”

“Sounds weird, but yeah,” Dean says.

Jody can only sigh at that, uncrossing her arms and waving at them to follow as she turns back towards the Mill’s family home.

“You boys do like to test me…”

 * * *

Dean had never felt so out of place. Sam and Eileen were sat comfortably on the couch in the living room whilst he was sort of just… off to the side in his wheelchair. Yeah, he could have sat on the couch if he wanted to, but a) he’d rather not be squashed up against Sam and Eileen, and b) …he’s too lazy to move back and forth from the wheelchair.

Plus, even though he feels bad for how distraught Jody looked at the sight of him, he still kinda wanted to see Claire’s reaction.

Sam’s right, he is an asshole…

Speak of the devil, those bounding ‘taking two steps at a time’ footsteps stomping down the stairs could only be those of teenage angst, two other pairs of footfalls following just behind, though much calmer than the ones of the blonde-haired girl that appears in the doorframe leading to the living room.

“Sup dorks-,”

It seemed that Claire is taking after Jody more and more every time that Dean sees her, considering the fact that her expression is pretty much identical to Jody’s, her eyes drawn to Dean sticking out like a sore thumb in the room.

“I know,” Dean says as seriously as he can. “I just get more handsome the older I get, don’t I?”

Claire was so frozen in place that Kaia, who had been following just behind, nearly ran into the back of her. Kaia’s eyes widened upon seeing them, partly hidden by Claire with a hand hanging onto Claire’s sleeve as what could ever be a comforting gesture for Claire, or an attempt to ground herself.

“Oh my God…”

“Nope, we took care of him,” Dean joked.

“Jack took care of him,” Sam corrected him. “We got our asses handed to us.”

“Whatever.”

“Come on then,” Jody’s voice booms from the bottom of the staircases, striding into the living room and brushing past Claire and Kaia as she went. “Apparently, we’ve got a story to hear.”

Claire finally snapped herself out of her frozen trance, taking a few timid steps into the living room with Kaia following close behind as usual. “How bad is it?” She asked Dean, unable to tear her eyes from his limp legs.

“I can’t walk so, you know, not great. Still got my arms and the use of little Dean though, so-,”

“Let’s not get too detailed,” Jody cuts him off, holding out a hand to stop him with a grimace. “Did you… did you break your back?”

“More like shattered. But, uh… probably best we go from the beginning, like Sam said.”

“Wait…” Claire stopped Dean before he could start, her eyes darting between all three of them. “Where’s Castiel? And no offense, but uh… who’s this chick?”

“Claire!” Jody scolded her surrogate daughter. “It's not a crime to remember manners every once in a while, you know.”

“I’m Eileen,” Eileen answered, the off-rhythm tone of her voice getting Claire to raise her eyebrows in recognition.

“Oh! Are you, um… hard of hearing?”

“Lost all my hearing as a baby to a banshee,” Eileen answers. “I can read lips, though.”

“A banshee? Does that mean you’re a hunter, too?” Kaia piped up, starting to shift away from her hiding space behind Claire.

“Born and raised, pretty much,” Eileen answers.

“We met Eileen a few years go on a banshee hunt – the same banshee, actually,” Sam adds. “She, uh…”

“I was killed by a Hellhound set on me by the British Men of Letters,” Eileen finishes the sentence Sam struggled to say.

“Oh…” Claire is just about able to get out, staring bug-eyed at the female hunter in front of her. “And now you’re…?”

“Don’t worry, she’s alive. And human,” Dean reassured them. “Sam went all witch-mode and brought her back.”

“You… Sam, you did what?” Jody spluttered in her mom voice.

The power of ‘the mom voice’ had Sam instinctively cowering in submission. “The spell was mostly completed already…”

“Okay…” Claire butt in before Jody could scold Sam for dabbling in witchcraft. “So… where’s Jack and Cas? Could they not make it…?”

“Technically… they’re both here, in a way,” Dean says with a grin.

Sam sends yet another classic bitch face his way. “Dean-,”

“Alright, alright, I’ll stop being cryptic,” Dean mutters in defeat. “So… you remember when Jack got sick? After he died… Cas found him in Heaven. Along with the Empty… Cas decided to be a dumbass and make a deal without telling us. Jack came back and… Cas’s life was exchanged for it.”

The grief-stricken look that passed across Claire’s face had Dean scrambling to continue. “He’s not dead! Not right now, anyway. He, uh… he sacrificed himself for me. Death was coming for us – and I’m talking the literal Death here – and Cas used his deal with the Empty against her.”

“Wait, I’m confused-,” Jody interrupted Dean’s story. “What exactly was the deal Castiel made?”

 “He took Jack’s place in the Empty. Except, the Empty decided it wanted to be a dick about it. It would only take Cas once he ‘experienced a moment of true happiness’, so…”

“So… Cas forced himself to experience a moment of true happiness to… save you?” Claire asked. “How does that work?”

“The Empty… kinda had a grudge against Death. When Cas summoned the Empty to us, the Empty took Death along with Cas.”

“Oh… and, um… the moment of true happiness? What was that?”

Dean’s words froze in his throat, reluctant to leave his lips. There was something about the fact that he was saying it to Claire… the daughter of the guy his angel wears… he could only hope she didn’t find it too weird…

“Well… uh… he…”

The smug, knowing look that crossed Claire’s face was not one Dean was expecting at his stuttered answer (if it can even be called an answer), the young woman turning to Kaia with a roll of her eyes and a good-natured slap to the arm. “See, what did I tell you? Knew he’d do it eventually…”

“Uh… do what?” Dean asks.

“Oh, not much,” Claire says with a grin much too sly for Dean’s liking. “Me and Kaia just had a bet going on which one of you would confess to the other first. I bet Cas would do it first. Kaia bet you’d do it first, but I said you were way too emotionally constipated to manage something like that.”

“You just cost me ten bucks…” Kaia mumbled in Dean’s direction.

“Excuse me-,”

“The only way I could see you making the first move would be to kiss Cas at some random ass time, panic that you did it, and then run away,” Claire told him, counting the events on her fingers.

“I…” Damn, she was probably right… “Uh… you knew?”

Claire scoffed at that, feeling comfortable enough to walk further into the room and drop down into the armchair opposite, leaning back against the cushioned pillow with her arms crossed. “Please. I don’t have many memories of my dad, but I remember the way he would look at my mom. Cas has the same damn look when he looks at you.”

‘Well… it IS his face…’

‘Yeah, and that probably freaks her out a little so… maybe not mention that?’

“Hey, me and Eileen had a bet going too!” Sam says jovially, the amused smile on his face slipping away as he caught sight of Dean’s fiery glare. “Sorry…”

“Alright, alright, everyone knew me and Cas had a thing for each other before either of us did. We got it…” Dean grumbles, copying the moody teenager opposite by crossing his arms, glaring at the concealed smiles of the others in the room.

Claire perks up as she picks out something Dean had just said. “Uh… did you just say we?”

‘Time to shine, Cas…’

Jody, Claire, and Kaia startle at the piercing blue light that overtakes Dean’s eyes, unsettled by the unnaturally blank and tense posture that comes over Dean. Three pairs of frantic eyes shift over to Sam and Eileen, only relaxing marginally when they see the two aren’t phased by what was happening.

The blue slowly fades away as Dean slumps back into his chair, shaking his head and blinking sluggishly as the disorientation of possession switching clings to him. He raises his eyes up, settling on Claire with a light smile that was oddly familiar to the teenager, yet looked so foreign on Dean…

“Hello, Claire.”

She didn’t know how, but she knew straight away. Perhaps it was the strained, constipated sounding way he spoke, or his voice dropping deeper (which she thought was impossible already), or the way Dean’s eyes had lost that playful and joking edge they usually held with her, replaced with a much softer and more… more fatherlike look.

“Castiel? Is that… is that you?”

“It is for now, yes,” Castiel answers. “Dean and I… we are currently sharing possession of his body. To repeat Dean’s earlier words, Dean decided to ‘be a dumbass’-,”

‘How dare you-,’

“-during a hunt and got himself injured.”

“Like… ‘shattering your spine’ injured?”

“More than that,” Sam says darkly, gritting his teeth against the harsh memory of that night. “It was a pack of Vamps that had been around for a while. And when I say a while, I mean our Dad once tried hunting them. One of them managed to get ahold of Dean and it… it shoved Dean into a rebar.”

“The rebar pierced through his back and into his chest,” Cas embellished, the others grimacing at the image. “It punctured his heart, along with a lung. And, as you can imagine, it did some devastating damage to his spine. Fortunately… Dean made the decision to pray to me. Dean saved me from the Empty, and in return, I saved his life. But… my grace is running low. I used a majority of it healing Dean’s wounds, but it wasn’t enough-,”

“I thought your grace recharged itself?” Claire asks.

“It does, usually. I’m not entirely sure the reason for it, though I believe it may be connected to Heaven’s weakened power… Either way, it’s still not replenishing itself. In fact… it’s doing the opposite.”

“You’re running out of your grace?” Claire leans forward as she says this, her brow pinched in worry. “What does that mean for you? Will you…”

“I could die. Or I may live in Dean’s body, forcing him out and killing him.”

“Oh… And, um… what happened to… to my dad’s body?”

Castiel frowned at the way Claire’s voice seemed to shrink on itself as she asks him this, for a moment seeing the frightened little girl that stood in the doorframe, asking for her daddy as an alien being takes him away from her forever.

“That’s the reason we’re here, Claire,” Castiel tells her. “I know I’ve taken so much from you already. And now… I have to ask more of you again.”

Claire shuffled uncomfortably under Castiel’s intense and sorrowful gaze. Kaia is by her side within seconds, hovering near the armchair as she senses Claire’s clear discomfort. “Is this going to be dangerous?” Kaia asks on Claire’s behalf.

“No, it shouldn’t be,” Cas answered, unable to see Sam looking uneasily at him in a quick side-glance. “I am asking you… for your permission; your permission to use your father’s body once more as my own. We believe it might be the only way to keep me alive, as transferring me to another vessel may just use up the last of my grace, but seeing as I already had your father’s permission…”

“Right…” Claire mutters, clearing her throat and dragging her line of sight back up to face Dea- no, Castiel. “I’m not going to lie to you Castiel, it’ll always be kind of weird for me. But… I know Dad’s up there with mom, and that they’re happy, and… asides from my actual dad, you’re the closest thing I have to one, so… If this means I don’t have to lose you too, then yeah. You have my permission.”

Claire stubbornly fights back the burning tears in her eyes at the watery smile Castiel gives her, always taken aback to see the once stoic and hard-ass angel showing such raw emotion.

“Thank you, Claire. There’s… one more thing I need to ask of you.”

“Actually-,” Sam interrupts, much to Cas’ surprise. “There might be two things…”

Both Eileen and Cas frown up at him, racking their brains to try and remember the extra ingredient that they apparently needed from Claire.

“We found a spell that might be able to re-create your dad’s body without needing his soul,” Sam begins to explain to Claire, ignoring Eileen and Cas’s inquisitive stares. “One of the ingredients requires a vial of blood from a relative of the vessel. And… you’re the only surviving relative that we know of.”

“That… seems easy…” Claire says, suspicious at how simple this was all sounding.

“That one should be no problem, but uh…” Sam sighs, switching his gaze over to Castiel. “Listen Cas, I didn’t want to bring this up back at the bunker because I kind of had a feeling you’d shoot it down before I could even ask Claire.”

“…Sam…. What are you talking about?” Castiel asked, already dreading the answer.

Sam sighs deeply once again, tearing his gaze away from Cas and back to Claire. “Thing is, we need to use Cas’ grace for the spell. Problem with that is that there’s not much for us to use, and… we don’t really know what could happen if we don’t use enough. The last time this spell was used, the spell caster used pretty much all of the angel’s grace. I’m guessing we need all the grace we can get, and um… I was thinking about it, and… you see, the thing about possession is that the angel typically leaves a piece of their grace behind inside the previous vessel. And, if I remember right… Cas once possessed you.”

“No,” Castiel said sternly, the harshness in his tone making everyone in the room startle at the reminder of the powerful angel in their presence. Castiel knew what Sam was getting at. He knew what this was leading to.

“It’s worth a shot, Cas,” Sam argued, not backing down from Castiel’s ticked off glare. He holds Castiel’s gaze for a few moments before breaking it, turning back to Claire as he continues. “There was a time when I was possessed myself by an angel. We were able to use a, uh… kind of like a big needle to extract the grace from me-,”

“And it nearly killed you!” Castiel spat out. “We might not even need that much of my grace for the spell. Sam, it is not worth the risk-,”

“We don’t know that. And we won’t go all the way, Cas,” Sam assured him before turning desperate eyes back to Claire. “We won’t, Claire. I promise we won't. We managed to extract some grace from me without killing me. It won't extract all of Cas’s grace, but… that extra bit of grace from you could be the difference between this experiment failing, or saving Cas’s life. It’s all up to you, okay? If you don’t want to do this, we won’t force you into it.”

Nearly everyone in the room looked uneasy at Sam’s plan. Hell, even Sam didn’t look like he liked his own suggestion, but mostly… it was a look of desperation, of understanding, patiently waiting when you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for the answer. Claire got to take this all in, along with Dean’s – or Cas’s, she supposed – conflicted grimace, unable to meet her eyes.

“What about this makes it dangerous?” Jody’s voice broke the tension. “You mentioned a needle?”

Sam nodded his head, reaching down to the duffel bag by his feet and unzipping it. All eyes in the room focused on him as he rummaged through the bag, their faces paling at the imposing metal syringe Sam held in his hands.

“The Grace has to be extracted from the neck…” Sam tells them, his own face twisting into a grimace at the reminder of his own experience. “That’s what made it dangerous. To get all the grace… you need to push the needle in further and further. But we’re not going to do that, okay?”

Sam placed the syringe to the side, picking up on how Claire was unable to tear her gaze away from the menacing instrument. “Cas can monitor you the whole time, right Cas? We’ll keep to a safe level, extracting what we can.”

Claire nodded her head, just barely noticeable, her eyes drifting across the room as she sits, lost in thought. “And… doing this… it’ll help you?” Claire directed the question at Castiel, her eyes briefly flickering up to meet Dean’s.

“I… I suppose so, yes,” Castiel begrudgingly admitted. “Every piece of my grace would help, but Claire-,”

“Then I’ll do it.”

Castiel’s mouth swung shut at her answer, taken aback by the assured confidence in her voice.

Kaia looked to Claire, torn between wanting to say what was on her mind, but also wanting to respect her decision. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Claire insisted with a soft smile at the girl behind her. “I’ll be fine, I promise. Cas is looking out for me.”

‘Huh… you know, you and Claire have the same smile. I mean, I know it’s Jimmy’s smile, but… you smile at me like that, too.’

“I can’t say I’m feeling all that jazzed about this decision,” Jody says. “But… I also know it’s not mine to make. Just… be careful. Please.”

“I’ll intervene before even the slightest bit of harm could be inflicted,” Castiel assured Jody in that sincere grovel of his that the Winchesters know mean he’s ready to sacrifice himself if it comes to it. “I give you my word.”

“Okay, let’s just…” Claire tried not to shudder at the thought of what that needle would feel like in her neck… “Let’s get this over with…”

* * *

Claire was able to hold back a wince as the marginally smaller needle slid out from the crook of her elbow, barely even able to get a glimpse of the puncture wound it left behind before Jody was swabbing at it with the gauze from the first aid kit.

She did get a glimpse of the small glass vial filled with a dark crimson liquid that was once running through her veins, now held in Sam’s hands. He carefully screwed the lid back on the top, avoiding spilling any of what was – technically – a precious ingredient to them now.

“Never liked getting blood tests taken…” Claire mumbled, rolling her eyes at the brightly colored care-bears band-aid that Kaia stuck over her arm.

“Better than having to slice your palm open a few thousand times for spells,” Sam said, handing the vial over to Eileen for safe storage. “Makes handling weapons a pain for a few weeks…”

“Maybe you guys should just keep bags of your blood around or something for that,” Claire joked from the couch. “With how often you guys get injured, it would probably be useful.”

‘Doubt a bag of blood would have fixed my heart, but it’s the thought that counts.’

The joking smile on Claire’s face disappeared the second the ridiculously big syringe was back in Sam’s hands, the sight of that long and sharp needle sending chills up her spine.

A small smile of sympathy hitched at Sam’s lips at the clear apprehension on Claire’s face. He takes the few steps over to the couch where Claire was sat, followed closely behind by Cas as he wheels himself next to Claire.

“You might want to lie down for this,” Castiel tells her. “The procedure is… unpleasant.”

Claire swallowed nervously at his warning, shifting around on the couch until her head was resting against the mountain of pillows that Jody had quickly built for her, placing trembling hands across her stomach as she waits for something that’s going to be – well, ‘unpleasant.’

Her eyelids flutter shut at the comforting touch of Castiel’s hand on her forehead, able to feel the gentle hum of Castiel’s grace just beyond the skin of his hand. It was weird to think that it was searching through her body, taking account of her pulse, her rate of breathing, the smallest sign that something was amiss.

“Are you ready?” Sam’s voice filters through her thoughts. Keeping her eyes firmly shut, she nods her head. She didn’t want to see the needle again. She especially didn’t want to see it going in her neck…

‘Unpleasant’ was not the right word, she very quickly decided. In fact, ‘unpleasant’ was pretty damn far from the word she would use to describe the burning pain that takes over every other sensation in her body. ‘Unpleasant’ was a word used for heartburn, or when you scrape your knee falling off your bike as a kid.

She finds her hands digging into the couch underneath her, gripping onto the soft material in a vice-like grip. She has no doubt that Jody isn’t going to appreciate the gouge marks she makes in the expensive leather with her nails, but that’s a problem for future Claire. Right now, present Claire has to focus on remembering how to breathe, on keeping the scream that wants to burst out from her lungs settled in place, on easing pressure in her jaw as she clenches her teeth in case she ends up biting her tongue.

The needle slides in further and, somehow, the pain gets worse. She didn’t think it could, but oh boy, was she wrong. It’s a damn miracle she’s able to bite back the scream, but even her tightly clenched eyelids were unable to stop the few tears that squeezed their way out. There’s a hand brushing through her hair – likely Jody’s – and another hand gripping onto hers almost as tightly as the other is burrowing into the couch – one she knows for sure is Kaia’s. She almost can’t feel them, but… they’re distractions. They take away from the pain in just the slightest, but quite frankly, she’ll take as much as she can get.

“That’s enough.”

Dean’s voice had never been so relieving to hear, even if it was in that freaky deep voice that sounded like Dean trying – and failing- to mimic Castiel’s. You wouldn’t think the feeling of a needle slipping out of your throat would feel good, but anything was better than the agonizing pain she had just been going through.

“There. It’s over.” Sam’s relieved voice finally gets her to pry her eyes open. The sight of the wispy, cloud-like blue gas shifting around within the syringe is almost mesmerizing to see. That grace was inside her – still inside her, in fact – and she had no idea. She can never feel it, it’s just… there.

Seeing five heads peering down at her was rather jarring, even if she knew they were doing it out of worry for her. “Jeez, could you guys back up a bit? I promise I’m not dying…”

“Technically, she’s telling the truth,” Castiel said, his hand slipping away from her head. “I can’t sense any permanent damage done. You might feel somewhat weak for a few hours, possibly a day, but you should recover fairly quickly.”

“How are you feeling?” Jody asks, the worry in her eyes remaining despite Castiel’s diagnosis. She offers a hand to Claire, who gladly takes it, allowing herself to be pulled up into a sitting position.

“About as well as you can after having a needle in your neck…”

‘I think she takes after me more than you, Cas.’

‘You passing on your sarcastic deflections is not something to be proud of, Dean…’

‘Hell yeah it is. Being honest is for losers.’

‘Huh…. For so long, I worried that Jack was going to take after Lucifer… I should have been more worried he’d take after you.’

‘Damn. Don’t get me wrong, that was a great burn, but also… screw you.’

‘Actually, I was waiting for you to do that.’

‘Ha, that’s… Wait, wha-,’

“This spell of yours better work after all that…” Claire tells Sam, getting one last look at the vial of Castiel’s grace before it joins the other vial of her blood that’s tucked away inside Sam’s duffel.

“Thanks to you, it just might,” Sam responds with a grateful smile.

A flash of blue pulls Claire’s gaze away from Sam, glancing over to see the last second of Castiel before being greeted by eyes she knows belongs to Dean Winchester. She can only grunt in surprise when Dean’s arms are wrapping around her back, yanking her towards in a rather clumsy and awkward hug.

“That’s from both of us,” Dean says quietly in her ear, his arms tightening around her side.

Claire chuckled at the unusual softness Dean was displaying, along with the fact that Dean was very nearly dragging her off the couch with his hug. “You went back into the bad place to get Kaia back, so… only fair I did what I could to get Cas back to you.”

Another laugh bubbled out as she felt the heartfelt hug turn into more of a tense hold, patting Dean’s arm in sympathy at what she knew was going to be an awkward question from Dean once he pulled away from the hug.

“Uh, actually, about that… Me and Cas were kinda wondering…”

“Just try and reduce the number of times you two suck faces around me once you get Cas back,” Claire tells him, much to Dean’s – and Cas’s – horror. “It’s gonna take me a while to not see it as you kissing my dad…”

“I’m not too sure what I just walked into, but it sounds like a juicy topic.”

The new voice in the room gets everyone to jump, those with weapons tucked away pulling them out in a smooth practiced motion, training them on the unexpected newcomer. Sam’s eyes widen over his pistol’s iron sight, lowering the gun instinctively once his brain registers that the woman smirking over at them was someone he knew.

“Rowena?” Sam splutters in surprise, gesturing for Jody to lower her own gun – which she did somewhat reluctantly. “How did you-,”

“Just a heads up deary, your devil's trap has been damaged. Think you might have some little micey’s nibbling away at your floorboard.” Rowena tells Jody with a sweet smile and an equally sweet-sounding voice.

“Who the hell are you?” Jody asks, pistol still held firmly in hand.

“Rowena. As Samuel over there just stated.”

Jody’s eyes narrow at the stranger in her living room. Sam’s judgment was the only reason she had her gun pointed to the floor, and not at this fiery woman. “Okay, I’ll be more specific; what are you?”

“Centuries-old witch. Freshly created damned soul. Demon. The Queen of Hell.” Rowena’s impressively fake friendly smile only widens at the discomfort that washes over Jody with every new title she provides. “Take your pick.”

“Sam...” Jody takes a step back from Rowena, instinctively moving closer to where Claire and Kaia were – nearly bumping into Castiel in the process.

“What are you doing here, Rowena?” Sam asks her, sensing the need to defuse the situation before Jody starts shooting.

“What I said I would do,” Rowena answers, sauntering over the armchair Claire was occupying not long ago and dropping into it like it was her own home. “Imagine my surprise when my demons pick up on an angel's grace on Earth that’s not occupying a vessel. I sent some of my men to investigate and… what do you know, they report back to me that the Winchester’s are involved. I could only assume this is a part of your little plan to save the angel?”

“I have a name,” Castiel grumbles from his spot by the couch, mostly blocking Claire and Kaia from view.

“Oh! I suppose that means Dean’s been placed in the timeout corner for the time being?”

‘…the timeout corner…?’

“If you’re asking me if Dean is currently the one not in possession, then yes.”

“Uh, I’m sorry, you guys are friends with a witch?” Claire leans away from Castiel to try and get a better look at the witch that was currently sitting in her favorite chair.

“Ah, well, you know the saying,” Rowena mused out loud, leaning back against the comfortable pillows of the armchair. “Keep your friends close…”

“Yeah… and I’m guessing you’re a powerful enemy to have?” Claire asks.

“Good instincts, that one,” Rowena notes to Jody.

“You still haven’t explained why you’re here,” Eileen interrupts, bringing Rowena’s attention over to her. “You were able to sense Castiel’s grace and… then what?”

“As I said, I can only assume this is a part of your plan to bring back Castiel here. I did say I’d help, didn’t I?”

“You? Are willing to help them?” Jody asks incredulously.

“Aye. It’s only fair I help them after they got me killed.”

“Um… you say that like you wanted to be killed?” Kaia asks.

“Oh no, not in the moment, heaven’s no. But it turned out that dying was the best thing that ever happened to me. No mother should outlive her child, but… it’s only right that I should take over my son’s throne, isn’t it?”

“Your son? Your son was the former king of-,” Jody stops as her brain makes the connection, looking between Rowena and Sam in disbelief. “Crowley? Crowley was your son?”

“You’re acquainted, I presume?”

Jody huffs out a laugh at that. “If you call trying to kill me on the first date ‘acquainted’, then yeah.”

“Ah, that sounds like my son… Both the ‘killing’ part and the ‘trying’… poor boy had so many ambitions, just always failed to reach them…”

“Are you saying your son ‘trying to kill me’ is an ambition-?!”

“Alright, alright, let's -,” Sam quickly jumped between the two ladies to defuse the tension, sensing an argument that could only end poorly. “Yes, we found something. One of the Men of Letter’s – our grandfather, actually – managed to create a spell with the help of a witch back then, uh… Anikka Whitmore?”

“Ah, Anikka…” Rowena drawls out the witch’s name, shaking her head in what Sam could only assume was fake pity. “Shame what happened to the poor girl… She just needed to help people… had a soft spot, you see… Every witch worth her money knows that helping the needy just attracts unwanted attention. She found that out far too late, I’m afraid…”

“Yeah, we… we found the pictures…” Sam says with a wince. “Actually, I have the spell on me right now…”

Sam hurriedly searched through his jacket pockets, pulling out the little folded square of delicate paper and rushing over to Rowena to hand it over. Rowena took the paper with careful hands, long nails unfolding the old paper before taking in the written spell.

“Hmm… Ah, that makes sense… perhaps a bit risky using angel's grace, but… the human blood should help to temper the grace’s volatile power…”

“Does it… does it seem like it will work?” Eileen asks, unable to stop herself from worrying over the fragile paper crumbling away in the witch’s hands.

“I don’t see why not, considering it says here that the experiment was ‘technically’ a success… just not in the way this poor lad was expecting…” Rowena tells them, handing the spell back over to Sam – much to Eileen’s relief. “Except…”

‘Ah, dammit. Of course there’s an ‘except’. Another ‘but’, or ‘however’. Always something… ’

“I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, boys. But I have to say it. The amount of grace is… it’s a problem. The grace is essentially the power of this spell. It’s… it’s almost like the glue that puts the body back together. Creates new atoms, replicating DNA from the blood, then binds it all together. And since you said Castiel doesn’t have much of his grace left…”

Rowena’s sentence drifts off at the sight of Dean’s eyes flaring blue, watching as Castiel fades away behind green eyes. Those blank, unoccupied eyes quickly shift to ones of worry, of impending doom as Dean Winchester once again takes control of his body. “It’s not going to work…?”

“I’m not saying that,” Rowena said gently, keeping her gaze focused on Dean alone despite the four other pairs of eyes staring at her. “It’s hard to know for sure when I have never performed the spell myself – as well as it only being done once. There’s every chance this could work with the grace you have, but…”

“Don’t sugar coat it for me,” Dean insisted, his voice coming out weaker than he intended. “We need to know the risks.”

“If it’s not enough… the spell will break apart mid-way through. The body will begin to disintegrate back to nothing as the grace burns away, and once it's empty? That will be it. Castiel will be gone.”

“Is there anything you can do?” Dean asks. Though, ‘pleads’ would probably be a more apt word… “Something that can boost the spell?”

“There’s nothing I can do myself, no. The spell is simple enough, able to be cast by whoever. I’m afraid it won’t matter who casts it, as the power of the spell all comes down to one ingredient: the grace.”

“What about using another angel's grace, or-?”

Rowena stops Dean's blabbers with a shake of her head. “It has to be the grace of the angel that possessed the vessel. Unless another angel possessed the vessel?”

“Uh… that would be Lucifer…” Sam mumbled uncomfortably.

“Ah. Probably best not to go down that route…”

“So… how likely is it that… that this isn’t going to work?” Dean asks Rowena. “What’s the chance that…”

‘That I’m going to lose him,’ Dean thinks the words his mouth can’t voice.

“There's a chance,” Rowena's answer doesn’t make him feel any better. “But you want my honest opinion? Make sure you say all you need to before the spell. Don’t leave regrets.”

Rowena stood up from the armchair, feeling an unusual pang of sympathy in her chest at the crushed look on the elder Winchester’s face. “If you do make it back to the land of the living, Castiel? I expect an invitation to the wedding.”

And with that, Rowena was gone as quickly as she had come, leaving behind a room of uneasy stillness. Perhaps, in another world, Dean would roll his eyes at Rowena’s parting comment. He'd brush off whatever snarky comment Sam would add, perhaps even make a joke of his own, pretending he wasn’t picturing what that would be like; a private wedding, most likely, small and familiar, just the people he cares about most.

He doesn’t want to picture that in this world, though. Maybe even just a few hours ago, he’d let himself delve into such dangerous indulgences, of things he never thought he'd have. Hell, things he didn’t even know he wanted.

Now, though… what was the use of imagining such things, when in a few weeks he might just be falling asleep clutching the trench coat of who was once the husband in those dreams?

Next Chapter - - - >

[nightwingshero]

Rosemary, abatina, dill, hollyhock, and sweet pear for whoever you feel like talking about! 💜

Thank you, hun!!! I did a mixture, because I’m missing some old OCs of mine, and some need serious development. Yeah, so it got really long, I am so sorry!

Rosemary: What's their fondest memory?

Blair: It would probably be laying out in the backyard with her dad while they watched the stars, or her dad buying her that nice telescope that he’d use with her. It meant a lot to her that her parents indulged when it came to her interests, they were always supportive. Most of her time was spent at aquariums, the observatory, zoos, and just doing a lot of stuff with her parents. Science fairs were always a blast, because her parents would help. 

Emma: This would be either her and her brother Mark playing in the pond they had or playing football on the beach in the summer. Em would also work on an old Mustang, one she’s still helping him build, and Ash would come over most days and they would all just have a huge dinner in the backyard. Georgia gave decent weather for it. Most of her fondest memories are with her family or Ashton, because they grew up together and did a lot together when Emma’s family moved there. A beautiful, sunny day in Summer always takes her back. 

Quinn: There were times where they would travel back to Russia to visit the remaining members of his mother’s family, and he would love it. Quinn absolutely adored his babushka, and the stories she would tell. His mother would tell the same tales, but it wasn’t the same as how his babushka would tell it. There was also sailing with his father. That was something Quinn thoroughly enjoyed, and it was something they continued on doing until his father died. 

Wren: Definitely playing piano with her mother! That is probably the most precious moment for her. When she plays it now, she still feels as if her mother is there with her. Not only that, but her music teacher was her one good thing growing up. Mrs. Hall taught Wren how to actually play, and when Wren would sneak to lessons (under the guise of studying or going to the library), Mrs. Hall would often bake cookies and brownies for Wren, as if she were her own grandmother. Wren attended her funeral when she passed, and it actually felt like she had lost her grandmother when she heard. But those are memories she holds dear. 

Abatina: Are they very picky or particular about anything?

Blair: Not really, no. Blair is rather easy going and goes with the flow. I think the one thing would be don’t touch her work station. It’s organized chaos with an actual system that only she knows, and she will absolutely lose it if you mess with anything because that’s her life’s work you’re messing with. I think that could be said for any scientist though, and she is very verbal about it. It’s a light reminder, or a happy request until you get too close and she becomes slightly frazzled and makes you keep your distance. 

Emma: She can be an absolute control freak and has to have things a certain way (whether that’s because she was in the Marines or if she inherited it from her mother, who’s to say?) No eating in her cars, don’t touch her guns, and if you’re going along with her on something, you’re following her lead. Ashton, Nora, and even Roach give her hell for it, but honestly? Sometimes she can’t help it. Emma has a habit of taking control of a situation when it calls for it and she’s a super organized and neat person. Everything has it’s place, things are cleaned or done a certain way, and she would rather just do it herself. 

Quinn: His hair and shoes. Listen, Quinn is very boyish in looks (there’s a reason Ryan Gosling is his faceclaim) and his hair is usually neat or done how he wants it. He’s not overbearing about it, he just takes his time with it because he does put care into his appearance. His shoes are shined, his clothes match and his outfit is sharp, he doesn’t go more than a few days without shaving. Once the Collapse happens, it’s one of the things he can control, so he does. Grayson often jokes he’s the prettiest guy of Armageddon, but Quinn laughs with him. 

Wren: She doesn’t like it when other people drive. Having been in a traumatizing car accident, she prefers to be at the wheel for that sense of control. It’s honestly makes her so damn anxious when that’s not the case, and Quinn drives like a damn maniac from time to time in New Dawn. She will cling to something for dear life, and absolutely will backseat drive. It leads to a lot of spats between her and Jane, Quinn, and Ivy. 

Dill: Do they have any rivals?

Blair: I would say that one of the biggest would be John Constantine. Blair is skeptical when it comes to the mystical and supernatural, needless to say, she absolutely does not believe in magic. However, when the Particle Accelerator went off, someone close to her was wearing a totem or a spiritual pendent that got mixed into her meta powers (it’s how she can cosmic project and do some of the things she can with energy manipulation...it also helps balance out her going supernova and such), so...some of her powers are part of the arcane. Johnny knew that the second he met her, so when she gave him grief and became skeptical when he was helping Ollie bring Sara’s soul back, he just smirked at her and went “hate to burst your little bubble, love--” and honestly, they’ve been at it from there.  

Emma: Ha! Emma is competitive and very proud, so yeah, she has rivals, some more fun than others though. For example, her rivalry with Nikolai (and sometimes Price) is who can drink the other under the table. Yuri...well, they ended up in a fist fight on a misunderstanding when they first met, so while he’s working with her and the 141, there’s definitely some rivalry there with them trying to one up the other. She’ll spar with Ghost to see who is better too. Honestly, she’s always up for a challenge, and its something she shares with a lot of her fellow Marines back home--including her cousin and her teammates. 

Quinn: John fucking Seed. Listen, they hate each other, full on loathing, because Quinn isn’t afraid to point out that he’s in a cult and we all know how John is when someone makes him feel insecure and inadequate...with Quinn he very much does, even if that isn’t his intention.  It also doesn’t help that John notices how Quinn looks at his wife from time to time, and he doesn’t appreciate it, but the biggest thing is that Quinn openly challenges him on everything. To Quinn, he wants to poke holes in his logic and show that John isn’t at all what he thinks he is. Quinn is a natural leader, he had been in the Navy, he knows what that looks like and he’s quick to call John out on shit. Wren gives him a bit of a run, too, their rivalry just happens to uh...turn into something else. 

Wren: Holly Pepper and Mary May Fairgrave. Those are the two that gives her the most trouble. In any other scenario (and in most AUs), Wren and Mary May get along just fine, but in canon? Wren straight up punches her in the face. There’s more to it, of course. Wren is being worn down by people wanting her to do this and that for the Resistance, her constantly being pulled in every direction and being forced to give to people without them giving in return. And Mary May wouldn’t shut up about the truck, while saying Wren was dragging her feet on what the Resistance needed done (mostly because Wren was sleeping around with John, but they didn’t know that yet), and Wren just gets overwhelmed with frustration and anger, and straight up punches her in the face and tells her “if you want the truck so damn bad, go get it yourself”, and storms out. Holly Pepper later becomes an issue because she knows John slept around with her, and Holly loves shoving it in Wren’s face. So...Holly ends up dying because she straight up attacks Wren, and Jane helps her with it because she knows that John has a soft spot for Wren. Plus there’s that little shit Quinn in New Dawn...they’re a lot of fun. 

Hollyhock: What's their biggest goal right now?

Blair: Currently, it’s to find her place and stride with the team and her powers. She just wants to not have to lay awake at night and worry she’ll lose control again and hurt her friends and loved ones. Her whole life has changed, and there are still things that are throwing her off. She needs to find her footing again and feel more confident in what she’s become. Helping people, including herself and teammates/friends, is what’s most important to her. 

Emma: As of right now, it’s to regroup and hunt down Makarov. She’s still healing from when Shepherd took out the 141 base and tried to kill her, Ashton, and Nora. The stitches are still healing a bit, but she’s pumped up and ready to take him down. Her goal, and focus, is doing whatever Price and Soap need her to do. It’s almost tunnel vision at this point. 

Quinn: Take down the Highwaymen and fix whatever bullshit Whitney and Wren have going on. He won’t at all pretend he knows what fucking type of politics they have in New Eden, or what rules they’re going by, but it’s very damn clear that Ethan is no good and needs taken down. Him and Grayson came because Carmina asked Rush, and they were never ones to back down from a challenge, not when it comes to helping those in need. So, he’s gonna take down Mickey and Lou, allow Grayson to avenge Rush while protecting Prosperity, and then stand with Wren and Whitney as they take over New Eden.

Wren: That depends on if we’re talking Far Cry 5 or New Dawn, but she’s mostly taking out the head Seed and establishing peace. She’s trying to do what’s right, and whether that’s for herself (which is the eventuality of her changing sides) in Far Cry 5, or for their people and her family in New Dawn (overthrowing Ethan and opening New Eden to more freedoms.) It’s all revolved around Eden’s Gate though, and she agrees to help Quinn and Grayson because she still cares about Kim and Nick, and much of the others, so it’s just a pitstop on her plan. 

Sweet pea: If you had to choose a favorite dessert for them, what would it be?

Blair: Crème Brule, strawberry shortcake, or chocolate lava cake. You could say all of the above, to be honest, she loves sweets. Blair is always snacking, and they’re usually little cakes, fruits, or something sweet. There’s a reason crepes are her favorite breakfast foods, fruit and sweet? Yes. Which I guess you could  add porfait on the breakfast menu too, in that case...anyway, snacking is usually something her and Mick has in common, though she’s not constantly looking for it the way he is. Mick finds food in missions and randomly...Blair is more disciplined than that. She will grab stuff for him a lot of the times if they’re in the same room or if she’s working near him. Leonard just stares between them, he’s not sure what he thinks of their comrade (he also lost his more recent memories, so he can shut it.)

Emma: Dark chocolate cake or tarts. Anything that has a bitter or sour tinge to it, because she’s not really a sweets person. Not when it comes to that, at least. She loves her mom’s sweet tea (and homemade lemonade). But she just would have something like raspberry butter cookies, cherry pie, or even an old fashioned ice cream (yes, with bourbon). She loves dark chocolate though. And tiramisu. 

Quinn: Oh, he loves the Russian desserts his mom would make, and honestly, Quinn has such a sweet tooth. Bird’s milk cake, Russian rugelach, waffle cakes, and especially kartoshka. He would help his mom (or babushka when they would visit Russia), and would eat them with Russian tea they would make. He also enjoys many flavors of gelato. 

Wren: Cheesecake. Without a doubt. She has always been, and will forever be, in love with cheesecake. And all kinds, if we’re being totally honest. She will eat any flavor, she feels strongly about it. You wanna piss her off easily? Eat her cheesecake. Wanna get on her good side again? Bring her cheesecake. John does. Whenever he’s in trouble, he throws a cheesecake on it. She’s constantly eating it to the point Whitney and Rowan have both reminded her that it’s not a meal. Does she listen? No. 

[clintashaotp]

Author’s note/summary: I put a few of my other projects on hold--I promise I’m still working on prompts!--because I wanted to get a little fluffy Avengers family Thanksgiving piece done. Pure fluff, Tony-centric, enjoy!

Family Dinner 

1, 264 Words

...

When Tony suggests Thanksgiving dinner, he doesn’t expect such enthusiasm from his fellow Avengers. They may live in the tower together, but he didn’t know how close they really felt until Clint and Natasha came to him, rather sheepishly, with a page and a half of dinner suggestions, and a promise to start cooking that afternoon. 

“Whatever you guys want,” Tony had said, slightly in shock, and Clint had given him a satisfied nod. 

“Don’t worry, Stark. It’ll be good,” Clint had promised, and Tony had just smiled into his mug of coffee. 

Banner had been taking more time off of work, and it had been nice to see him in various reading nooks around the tower, curled up with tea, or talking with Thor on the roof of the tower. Ever since Bruce had taken a trip to Asgard, he had been a little more closed-off, but with Thor, he was much more relaxed. While Tony missed having him in the lab, he was glad Bruce was finally beginning to warm up to them again. 

Steve, the righteous soldier, had taken it upon himself to do as much volunteering as possible. He had back to back shifts at five different homeless shelters serving Thanksgiving meals--though he promised Tony it wouldn’t conflict with their Thanksgiving dinner--and, with Clint and Natasha’s help, had baked fifteen pies to bring in as donations. 

Thanksgiving morning comes in a cool swirl of autumn leaves. Clint and Natasha are already busy in the kitchen, Tchaikovski blasting through the speakers. Tony peeks his head in to see Natasha twirling in fuzzy socks, Clint laughing as he tries to copy her ballet move. Tony resists the urge to take a picture, smiles to himself, and continues down the hall. 

Thor and Bruce sit together in the main room, video gaming headsets on. Bruce looks slightly terrified, and Thor looks slightly drunk, but both appear to be enjoying themselves. Tony watches for a moment from the doorway. Though Bruce still looks a little shell-shocked, he still laughs when Thor yells at the other players on the screen. Tony hasn’t seen Bruce laugh like that in a while. 

“Tony?” Tony turns around to see Steve standing in the doorway, balancing four different boxes in his arms. “Could you lend me a hand for a second?”

“Always, my dear captain,” Tony teases, grabbing two of the boxes out of Steve’s arms. “What are these?”

“I signed up to start collecting Christmas toys for kids who don’t have any,” Steve shrugs. “Those are just the coloring stuff.”

“Wow, Steve,” Tony grins, and Steve sighs. 

“Yeah, yeah, make fun of me, I know,” Steve starts, but Tony cuts him off. 

“I’m seriously impressed. It’s really cool that you’re helping people out,” Tony says, following Steve out the door towards Steve’s car. 

“I think part of it is...when I was a kid, I didn’t have this kind of stuff,” Steve says sheepishly. “And I guess now that I can afford to make other people happy, it feels like…”

“What?” Tony raises an eyebrow, curious. 

“My civic duty…” Steve sighs, putting the boxes in his trunk. 

“Oh captain,” Tony chuckles. “I can’t make fun of you for such a touching story. But if you ever say ‘civic duty’ again…”

“I got it,” Steve laughs. “I’ll be back by four.”

“See you then,” Tony waves as Steve’s car rolls down the driveway, and he heads back towards the house. 

Tony continues to watch over the other Avengers as the day progresses. Thanksgiving is a family holiday, and he knows how alone he used to feel without his parents. Though he likes to pretend he doesn’t care, it feels good to check up on his friends. 

At around two, he walks into the kitchen to say hello to the assassins but quickly backs away when he sees Natasha sitting on the counter, Clint’s arm around her shoulders, murmuring something into the open air. 

“...weird, having a family,” Natasha says, leaning into Clint’s shoulder. “We never had Thanksgiving, back in Russia. There was nothing to celebrate. None of us had a family.” her voice cracks slightly and Clint’s fingers rub her shoulder fondly. 

“I know. But you have us now, Nat, and that’s what matters. You have me, and the kids, and we’re always going to be around,” Clint smiles. “And Tony, I know you’re there.” 

Tony walks out into the kitchen awkwardly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”

“You definitely did,” Natasha laughs, turning around, “but it’s okay. Thank you, for all of this.”

“For what?” Tony asks, confused. 

“This family. This team. Thanksgiving dinner. Something to be grateful for.” 

Tony sees a sheen on her eyes but he doesn’t know if she is about to cry or the lighting is low in the kitchen. “Of course, Natasha. That’s what we’re here for.” he turns to leave the kitchen, then turns suddenly, confusion erupting inside his brain. “Wait, Clint, when you said ‘the kids’...”

“Shhh,” Clint chuckles, pulling Natasha into a hug and winking at Tony over her head. “We’re keeping that one on the down-low.”

“Got it,” Tony flashes him a double thumbs-up before exiting the kitchen, grinning to himself. Who would've thought? The master assassins, parents. 

“Hey, Tony,” a voice says from behind him, and tony turns to see Bruce standing in the doorway, headset around his neck. 

“Hey, Bruce, what’s up?” Tony says, slightly surprised. Bruce hasn’t actually initiated a conversation with him in a while. 

“I just wanted to say thanks. I know I haven’t been super present lately, and I’m sorry about that. I’d love to come back down to the lab soon if you’re okay with it?” Bruce looks a little anxious, almost as if he thinks Tony will refuse, but Tony’s face splits into a grin and without warning, he pulls Bruce into a hug. 

“Of course, buddy. I’ve missed you,” Tony says, patting Bruce on the back before letting go. Bruce smiles at him. 

“I’ll see you soon then.” 

...

When five o’clock hits, the Avengers sit down at the long table. Clint and Natasha have really outdone themselves. The turkey, perfectly seasoned and glazed, sits at the center of the table, the various platters of side dishes all heaped around the table. 

“This looks amazing you guys,” Steve smiles at the pair, and they both grin, shrugging it off. “So...I don’t know if anyone else did this as kids, but...I’d like to say grace if that’s alright.” 

Tony fights the urge to make a joke and smiles at Steve. “Go for it, cap’n.” 

“Okay. Dear Lord, thank you for this feast, and for our privilege that we are able to have a roof over our heads and food for us to eat.” Steve pauses for a moment. “Thank you for these people. Thank you for this...this family, and thank you for the moments that we share together.” 

Tony glances around the table. Clint and Natasha are holding hands, and Thor and Bruce both have their heads bowed. 

“Thank you for the lives we lead, and for the people we get to share them with. Amen.” Steve finishes, looking a little embarrassed, and Natasha smiles up at him.

“I couldn’t have said it better myself,” she smiles.

“I just want to add two more words,” Clint grins, “let’s eat!”

Tony watches from the end of the table as they all begin to scoop food onto their plates. They are all smiling, happy, and more at peace than he has seen them all for a while. He is grateful for all of them. He is grateful for his family. 

[judyhopps934-mt-zd]

Thoughts on Kwamibusters

Warning: Spoilers! That's all.

Plagg's cheese addiction goes too far to the point that he leaves Adrien's bag and heads to Mrs. Mendeleiev's class.

And wait, there's more! Tikki tries to talk some sense into Plagg because he apparently does this EVERY DAY! I swear, his cheese addiction has gone too far! He even calls it "magic cheese" that "reappears" everyday!

At some point, Mrs. Mendeleiev apparently spotted Plagg because she apparently had this all set up: hiding behind the desk with a net and saying "I got you now" or some sort of variation of that.

While trying to catch Tikki and Plagg, Mrs. Mendeleiev had made a fool of herself and made the Miracu-class wonder what was going on. Which is a mood when one hears a thud. Then there's Miss Bustier, who tries to get their attention, which is a teacher's mood. Overall, that was all a mood.

Tikki and Plagg (to some extent) should be fortunate that Kwamis cannot be captured on video or photographically because apparently, Mrs. Mendeleiev had set up a camera. But they are obviously not off the hook as Mrs. Mendeleiev saw them.

More Tikki and Marinette bonding please! I like how Marinette sees Tikki as the one friend she can be real with. Reminds me of my dynamic with my best friend in which we are honest with each other.

Plagg being on the roof was mood. He just chilling there as if nothing has happened. But don't worry. Tikki reminds him that they are in danger of exposing their owners' identities and in danger themselves.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Plagg, Plagg, Plagg. You truly are calm in a situation that has dire consequences. But let me explain that later.

Mrs. Mendeleiev apparently goes as far as to appear in Alternative Truth TV: Where nothing is really true or false. This Plagg. This is the worst that could happen.

Kim being obsessed with the show is relatable. Him acting as the talk show host was fun to watch and he annoys Mr. Damocles in the process. An added bonus. He's asked to sit and be quiet so many times. Couldn't help but laugh.

He's also super energetic about Mrs. Mendeleiev's appearance on the show and cheers on for Alix's brother as well.

I understand Alix being annoyed with her brother for being on the show to prove that Egyptian Pyramids are actually spaceships. I hope my brother never does this otherwise I am moving to another country and changing my surname. She's barely holding it together and I felt some secondhand embarrassment. Why must her brother do this?

I am not surprised that Adrien and Marinette are shocked that Mrs. Mendeleiev discovered their kwamis with an accurate description. Interdimensional beings that can go through matter and like aged cheese (I'm looking at you Plagg!)

Adrien saw Marinette leave during the show. Reasons for suspicion are starting to pour in.

And can we talk about the drawings? That went from 0-100 real quick. Their thought might be "Definitely my kwami".

And I gotta say, Mrs. Mendeleiev has better artistic skills than me. I am really bad at drawing.

Marinette for the first time in a while was not the one that had to learn a lesson. This time its Tikki who learns a lesson. We've never seen Tikki be reprimanded before, so take notes.

I seriously love the bond between Mari and Tikki. They are willing to forgive each other for their mistakes, no matter how serious the consequences are.

Mari also figures out that Chat Noir attends Francois-Dupont and that he must be one of the boys after Tikki mentioned Plagg. But withheld from trying to uncover more so she would not have to give up her Miraculous.

Which reminds me: WHEN DID IT BECOME PART OF THE RULES THAT IF EITHER ONE OF THE HEROES IN OUR FAVORITE DUO THAT THEY HAVE TO GIVE UP THEIR MIRACULOUS???? It was initially for security reasons that they would not reveal their identities, but if it's by accident, they still have to give up their Miraculous???? There's a major plot hole here that I'm gonna keep thinking about and no I will not stop internally screaming.

And another thing, Marinette seemed very sad about the idea of relinquishing her Miraculous. The sense of responsibility and the feeling of saving Paris I feel gave her a sense of serving a purpose. I mean who else would feel like they are serving a purpose by being a superhero, savior of [insert place]? What I'm trying to say in my confusing sentence is that she enjoys (to a great extent) being Ladybug and does not want to give that up.

Before we get to the Adrien and Plagg moment, the panel of judges for Alternative Truth believed Alix's brother with a 3/3 vote, but Ms. Mendeleiev did not get any votes, making her statement false. She does not take this well. (Because why would she take it well? She was humiliated on TV for goodness sake?) This is when she gets akumatized and Hawkmoth tells her what they are called.

Alya feels embarrassed for Mrs. Mendeleiev, whereas Chloé was humiliated for herself because Ms. Mendeleiev is her teacher??? Your teacher was humiliated on TV, so stop making it about you Chloé!

And speaking of Chloé, how did she not recognize Tikki and connect the dots??? I saw on Tumblr and on the YouTube comments that in "Princess Fragrance", she met Tikki and found out that she belonged to Marinette. She would've been able to figure out that Tikki is a kwami and Marinette is one of the superheroes at the very least. But then again, Ms. Mendeleiev's drawing was...okay.

Adrien just jumped in and said Plagg was irresponsible (me). And how did Plagg react? He was like "Kwamis can never be caught" and basically called him and Tikki party poopers. (Well, he called Tikki Sugarcube, so that leads to my next point).

He figures out that Ladybug is someone he knows already at school. This is when Plagg panics.

Adrien and Marinette leave the bathroom at the same time and Adrien noticed Mari, but both run back when they hear the news alert.

Back to Mendeleiev, she turns into Kwamibuster, which is obviously the paradoy reference to Ghostbusters (if you are into that sort of thing). And speaking of references, she reminded some of us about Mr. Crocker from Fairy Odd Parents. Although she is not the crazy lunatic that Crocker is.

May I mention that the screen was split and we ended up getting a united look at the news, with one half of the screen being from Mari's end and the other half from Adrien. I loved that so much! Can we get more of that please?

Before Adrien transforms, he asks Plagg if Marinette was Ladybug. YES YOU HEARD THAT RIGHT! Oblivious Adrien figured it out and was happy about the thought. And Plagg RUINED EVERYTHING! He was like "NoooOoo" and gave the speech that figuring out Ladybug's identity means giving up his Miraculous. Also, note how he was anxious to be sucked into the ring. And we know how Plagg normally feels about it. Also, his advice: ignore the problem. For once, that's actually good advice.

Ladybug saves Alec (I believe that's his name) from falling 50 feet from the safe and he gets out of the safe, seemingly star struck that Ladybug saved him. Either he was in shock from almost dying or from being saved by an icon. This was something new to watch since normally everyone else does not shout "Ladybug saved me!" in the way he did. I might be overthinking it.

"Ladybug defies the laws of science." -> Chat Noir. This was his best entrance line in my opinion.

Ladybug and Chat Noir argued over whose kwami is responsible for this mess. Ladybug's argument is that Plagg was irresponsible. Chat's argument was that Tikki was there too. Ladybug's rebuttal was that Tikki was trying to keep Plagg in line and that Chat and Plagg are a perfect match. You know if you think about it, superhero personality and kwami personality are sorta linked.

Ladybug gets zapped and detransforms. Chat goes to check up on her, but she says she's fine. He respects her privacy and helps her escape. See? Even Chat knows priorities. Although she would not have been caught if he didn't distract her from escaping Kwamibuster. (This is causation, I am in a Law and Society major, and I have a Criminal Law test next week. Moving on!)

Chat gets blasted too and escapes as well. And that leads us to...

...BANANA NOIR ORIGIN STORY! One of the hosts was wearing a banana suit, which Adrien found in the end to hide his identity while he escaped. And this is the origin story because...

...this episode took place before "Feast", where we see Banana Noir (I'm sorry, I'm still laughing.) Why do we know this? Because after Feast, Master Fu went on the run (to some extent). Marinette went to Master Fu's place in this episode to strategize.

Master Fu, I know you were the one who implemented the identity rule! I'm onto you!

Anyways, THIS IS THE MULTIMOUSE EPISODE! Marinette literally wore every single Miraculous that was in the Miracle Box, to which Master Fu warns that too much power could mess with her head. Now we wonder if Emeline wore the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous at the same time and something went wrong??

But we know Marinette well enough that we should trust her with her plans. I mean to echo Wayzz, Marinette had never let them down. Also, there were some Miraculous that were worn only to free the kwamis so that they'd help her.

MULTIMOUSE TRANSFORMATION ROCKS!!! I STAN! (This is just as awesome as Lady Noire's transformation)

This excitement is short-lived though because Multimouse ends up feeling lightheaded when she was about to head out. But she rises and marches forward. YOU GO GIRL!

The Kwami Swarm (Stampede?) comes flying in, to the delight of Kwamibuster and Hawkmoth.

Multimouse introduces herself separate of Ladybug, though she is flattered. Adrien trusts her to get Plagg back, which is awesome!

[Kwami 1], [Kwami 2]: unify! The unification of the Miraculous was AWESOME!

Multimouse (well, a few of her copies) were captured on purpose so she could unify with Plagg was the most genius idea ever!

The one with Chat's Ring returned it to him so he would no longer be in the Banana costume, which he was glad to ditch (even though he kept it in theory).

Mirage!

The mirage involved fixing everything and being able to show that Marinette was Multimouse, but a separate person from Ladybug. I sense the problem that because Marinette in a sense is Multimouse, Hawkmoth could use that to his advantage. But what is the possibility that she will be Multimouse again. Also, Chat was the only one there! So that's that.

Chat was like "I don't know what my kwami was doing at that elementary school." Ladybug in a sort of deadpanned tone: "It was a high school". I couldn't help but laugh. He said it was a high school before, he goes there, and it was the simplest plan to hide his identity compared to Ladybug's.

If Marinette and Ladybug were two different people, I'd ship them, no doubt. Chat, you got competition...

I am a bit annoyed at Chat because he wasn't able to recognize that Ladybug and Marinette look similar, but then again, he probably followed Plagg's advice so he'd be able to keep his Miraculous.

Mr. Cat. MR. CAT??? Excuse me Ms. Mendeleiev, but his name is Chat Noir, not Mr. Cat.

Thank you Chat for reminding Ms. Mendeleiev that she should keep it a secret for the sake of Paris. THANK YOU! Also, "wee!" as in "flying through the city is fun!" (Someone on YouTube pointed this out).

Now remember! The whole thing was a Mirage. That means the akuma wasn't purified yet and everything had yet to be repaired. This is when everything is fixed for real.

Few things to note: Marinette was tired before resorting everything to reality. She deserves a nap after this.

Also, the Lucky Charm this time was a bowl used to contain the Akuma. It is less convoluted than all the other Lucky Charmd from before. But then again, the whole plan was complex.

And to cap it all off, Marinette is the most powerful, smartest person in all of Paris, or even the world. She was mentally and physically capable of wielding multiple Miraculous at once and came up with the most genius plan with multiple moving parts. Our girl is making history in the Miraculous History books. In this essay, I will.

Overall, 10/10 because of Multimouse and Adrien hitting the jackpot on who is Ladybug. The one thing that ticked me off was the whole identity rule that seemingly came out of nowhere. Like where did that come from??? We could have had progress on the identity reveal, but no! It all has to be a secret. I feel like this will go on for the rest of the series. But everything else was awesome and I enjoyed it so much that I watched it three times today. And I spent 4 hours writing this.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hello Steph, you wonderful person!! Thank you so much for all the work you put into your blog. It’s such an amazing resource for the fandom! I was wondering if you knew any fics where either John or Sherlock are super!BAMF specifically under the circumstances when the other is threatened. I’d love to read some kind of scenario where one of them is threatened and the other says something along the lines of “if you touch one hair on his head...” Thank you for any suggestions on this theme!

Hi Nonny!

AHHHH I love those kinds of fics! I think I classify those ones under “Protective Johnlock” so it’s sort of… shoved into those ones? LOL. I’ve recently posted a Protective Sherlock list, so you can check out that one, and see these others below! I know I have a tonne more but I am still sorting through all my fics, LOL. So I hope what I have sorted for you, hope that these are what you’re looking for!!

PROTECTIVE JOHNLOCK (BOTH)

See also: 

Protective Sherlock

BAMF! But Insecure John

New World, Old Words by thedeafwriter (G, 641 w. || Deaf Sherlock, Sherlock Whump, Pining Sherlock, Marriage Proposal, Fluff, Always John) – It was disconcerting to experience. One second, he was laying on the table, breathing in the gas that would make him sleep, the next, he was dragging his eyes open to look around the bright room, trying to wake up.

Idiot by Anesthesiologist (T, 1,229 w. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Alternate TGG / Explosion, BAMF John, Sherlock Whump, Inner Monologue, John Saves Sherlock, POV Sherlock) – What the heck happened? He remembered the pool and Moriarty, but then what? Had he been dying?

29 January 2017 by wearitcounts (Sher_locked_up) (E, 1,765 w. || Anniversary, First Time, Insecure Sherlock, Love Confessions, Post-S4) – “That,” John says, “should have happened years ago. Maybe even the first time.”

Loudly Unspoken by Mount_Seleya (M, 1,871 w. || Post-TAB, Love Confessions, Vulnerable Sherlock, Frottage) – John confronts Sherlock about the words he left unsaid on the tarmac. Set immediately after TAB

The Rational Machine by Solstice Zero (K, 2,924 w. || Hurt / Comfort, Malnourishment / Fainting, Doctor / Minder John) – Sherlock passes out. John muses on the reasons why. Containing an absorbing case, two bags of shopping, and a few apples.

It Was All Right There In Front of Him (A Five Times Plus One Story) by bees_stories (T, 3,191 w. || 5+1, Protective Idiots, Grooming, Bed Sharing, Lestrade POV) – DI Greg Lestrade is a good detective. But sometimes he doesn’t trust the evidence in front of him, until there’s a compelling reason to do so.

Breakfast, acronyms and brotherhood by Rose de Sharon (K+, 4,074 w. || TBB Fic, Friendship/Bromance, Hurt/Comfort, Protective John, Fluff) – Set after The Blind Banker: my take of Sherlock and John’s conversation over breakfast. S/J friendship, bromance, no slash.

Unforgiven by 221b_hound (M, 4,721 w. || Marriage Proposal, Victor Trevor, Jealous / Protective John, Jealous Sherlock, Sherlock’s Past) – Sherlock’s latest case is for his ex boyfriend, the brilliant and handsome Professor Victor Trevor. John is not too happy about that. But things aren’t what they seem, an old friend of John’s is involved in the case, and John has a few surprises up his sleeve. Also - a proposal! Part 16 of Unkissed

The Refining Fire by Arwen Jade Kenobi (T, 5,451 w. || Post-TGG AU, Angst, Friendship, Alternating POV (Lestrade, Mycroft, Sherlock), Worried Sherlock, Hospital Recovery) – Fire can burn things to ashes, but it can also burn things together.

Coldness/Heat by agirlsname (E, 3,790 w. || Cuddling & Snuggling, Body Heat, New Year’s Eve, PWP, Bedsharing, Frottage) – The inn is booked up on New Year’s Eve. The train home is cancelled because of the snow. The only option is to sleep in the non-heated guest room of a client, and John and Sherlock are freezing. You know where this is going. Part 1 of New Year’s Kiss

And Here We Are by J_Baillier (T, 12,416 w. || ASiP Fic, Alternating First Person POV, Drama, Friendship, Mild Case Fic, Autism Spectrum Sherlock, Insecure Sherlock, Protective John, Pining, Homophobia, Loneliness, Angst, Humour, Domestics, Morbid Fluff, Kidnapping) – All the little things we never got to see when an army doctor and a consulting detective were adjusting to sharing a flat. And a life.

Just Like That by sussexbound (E, 8,442 w. || First Time/Kiss, Frottage, Virgin Sherlock, French Kissing, Anal, Emotional Lovemaking, Enthusiastic Consent, Tenderness, Crying John, Bathing/Washing, Insecure John, Toplock) – John doesn’t want to talk anymore. He wants. Oh dear god, how he wants. For the first time in what feels like years he WANTS.

Shuteye Shenanigans by Ayakae (K+, 13,263 w. || Post-TRF, Friendship / Epic Bromance, John’s Nightmares, Angsty Fluff, Bed Sharing, Humour, Cuddles, Taking Care of Each Other, Domestics) – John Watson has never slept with Sherlock Holmes. Never ever ever. And never will, thank you very much. Well, there was that one time, but John didn’t count that. It was completely different, just like the second time it happened. And the third. And the fourth. Epic bromance, but it can be read as pre-slash if you wish.

First Response by Arwen Jade Kenobi (T, 13,516 w. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Five and Ones, Whump / Injury) – Five times John had to perform first aid on Sherlock and one time Sherlock had to perform it on John.

In A Changing Age by allonsys_girl (E, 15,590 w. || Victorian AU, Virgin / Demi Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, Mild H/C, Bottomlock) – Sherlock wakes up in the 19th century, with no idea how he got there.

Hellfire by testosterone_tea (E, 28,596 w. || Fantasy / Magic / Mages / Elementals AU || Mage Sherlock, Elemental John, Developing Relationship, Torture, Powerful / BAMF John, POV Alternating, Dark / Blood Magic, UST, First Kiss) – Sherlock is a Mage that gets involved with a case involving Dark Summoning rituals, leading him to John Watson, a man with Berserker blood. The only thing is, Berserkers have been extinct for centuries. And of course, nothing involving Mycroft and his interfering ways is ever simple. This time, even Sherlock may have bitten off more than he can chew.

(Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea by DiscordantWords (M, 39,968 w. || Post S4 Fix It || Grief / Mourning, Victor Trevor, Friendship, Sherlock is Not Okay, Nightmares/Flashbacks/Panic Attacks, Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, John Comes Home) – Baker Street is very much the same. Only different. And Sherlock is just trying not to drown.

The Real Great Perfumers by shelleysprometheus (E, 45,355 w. || Case Fic, Alternating POV, Gay Sherlock / Bi John, Canon Compliant with Divergence at TRF, Friends to Lovers, Oral / Anal, Pining, First Kiss / Time, Dev. Rel., Drugging, Body Worship, Bathing, Love Confessions, Travelling, Bottomlock, Cranky Sherlock, BJ’s, Alternating POV, Jealous John) – The case, this case. This extraordinary, fascinating, scintillating case. A house. Designed entirely by its eccentric owner, built by no less than five hundred expert tradesmen in the heart of Marrakesh. A house that had, seemingly not only driven its owner out, but also to his quite unpleasant death. And a perfumer, a chemist no less, the very thought of the secrets that house could reveal, would reveal was irresistible. Sherlock had to have this case … and it seems, he also had to have John! Part 1 of the Forethought and Fire series

A Hundred Crimson Sols by elldotsee (E, 55,536 w. || Astronauts AU || Mars Exploration / Space Travel, Slow Burn, Shy Sherlock, Scientist Sherlock / Biomed Engineer John, Alternating POV, Mutual Pining, UST, Angst with Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Injuries, Suicidal Ideation, Zero-G Sex) – Will Holmes is a chemical researcher recognized widely for his contributions to the new Mars exploration program. Thanks to his ground-breaking developments, the IMMC (International Mars Mission Corporation) is one step closer to Martian colonization. Will and his team of scientists are headed out on the first of three manned missions before the first group of settlers arrive. Three days before launch, one of the crew has to be replaced. Will panics because…new people. The replacement is of course one John Watson, biomedical engineer and space hottie who was pretty sure he had retired from actual space exploration and was now content to work in the nice, quiet research lab. Can the crew survive this TOTALLY ROUTINE trip? Will they be able to endure each other for the looooooong trip in close quarters? Gonna be a wild ride… prepare for blast off. Part 1 of the SpaceBois go to Space series

The Burning by SrebrnaFH (M, 60,658 w. || Reverse Reichenbach, Suicide, Depression, Hurt Sherlock / John, Separation, BAMF John, Good Big Brother Mycroft, Angst, Implied/Referenced Torture, Fake Character Death, Rescue Mission, Reconciliation / Reunion, Hospitalization, Marriage Proposal, Illnesses, Physical Therapy, Happily Ever After) – Something went very, very wrong. John had seemed, if not happy, then reasonably content with his life. Sherlock had never predicted something like THIS might have happened. Not in his worst nightmares. He was the lousiest friend ever, apparently. At least Mycroft found him something to occupy his mind with, so that he didn’t have to go back to 221B and stare at the walls and the chair, where John Watson would never sit again.

The Vapor Variant by 88thParallel (CanadaHolm) (M, 72,684 w. || Post-THoB, John Whump, Protective Sherlock, Guilty Sherlock, Anxious/Worried Sherlock, Virgin Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, PTSD John, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Suspense, Virus, Sickfic, Big Brother Mycroft) – They stood face to face in the middle of a clearing. The dim light of the moon barely allowed Sherlock to see the glassy terror in John’s eyes and the sweat that glistened off his forehead. His nose was bleeding again, blood dripping in a slow stream from his right nostril. They were both gasping for air, John’s eyes locked on Sherlock’s. There was no recognition there, just wild animal fear. Time stood still for an eternal few seconds, and Sherlock took a shaky breath. “John—”Spell broken, John spun and bolted back into the woods. Still heaving for air, Sherlock took off after him.

The Cost of a Wish by slashscribe (E, 102,493 w. || xxxHolic Fusion || Spirits / Ghosts and Magic, Love Confessions, Slow Burn, Soul Mates / Fated Lovers, Adventure, Immortal Sherlock, Powerful John, POV John, Frottage, Wish Granting, Angst with Happy Ending, Nightmares) – John has been plagued by a secret his entire life that has made him feel hopeless until he meets a mysterious, seemingly omniscient man named Sherlock Holmes who owns a wish-granting shop. Their meeting sets off a series of inevitable events that will change the course of both of their lives forever.

Two Two One Bravo Baker by abundantlyqueer (E, 114,574 w. || Military AU || Afghanistan, War Story, Thriller, Switchlock, Rimming, Emotional Lovemaking, Lots of Sex, HJ/BJ’s) – Captain John Watson of 40 Commando, the Royal Marines, is assigned to protect and assist Sherlock Holmes as he investigates what appears to be a simple war atrocity in Afghanistan. An intense attraction ignites between the two men as they uncover a conspiracy that threatens everything they’ve ever known, but Sherlock is as much hunted as hunter, and everyone close to him is in deadly danger. Can he solve the case in time to save himself and John? Part 1 of Two Two One Bravo Baker Universe

A Further Sea by i_ship_an_armada & ShinySherlock (E, 125,492 w. || Historical Pirates AU || Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Doctor John / Pirate Captain Sherlock, Sailing, UST / RST, Masturbation, Action / Adventure, Mild Angst & Peril, Romance, Shaving, Molly/Janine, Bottomlock, Hand / Blow Jobs, Past Drug Use, Slow Burn, Mild Violence, Happy Ending) – Here be a tale of adventure for both body and soul, but beware if ye be not of stout heart, for this be piratelock, ya savvy? Luckless ship’s surgeon John Watson takes a chance, and finds himself eye to eye with The Ghost, the scourge of the seven seas and a definite thorn in the side of the blaggard, James Moriarty. But when John finds there’s more to this most cunning pirate than be meetin’ the eye, he has to choose… is it a pirate’s life for him?

Unkissed Series by 221b_hound (T to E, 184,168 w. across 46 works || Established Relationship, Ace Sherlock) – Sherlock returned from the dead a year ago. John returned to Baker Street six months ago. They’ve been in a couple since then. or at least, not NOT a couple. For two smart men, they sure can be dumb. Luckily, an art thief tries to drown Sherlock, Sherlock has a fever dream and things are about to change.

[dragonkeeper19600]

Super Mario Bros.: Fallen Star AU (Part 1)

This is an AU I’ve been developing for a while. It’s basically my take on the stock “Bowser defeats Mario and conquers the Mushroom Kingdom” scenario. I haven’t decided if I want to do this as a fan fic, a series of fan fics, a comic series, whatever, so I decided I might as well lay out the basics here. 

The name “Fallen Star” is a double entendre. The first meaning refers to the weapon Bowser uses to conquer the Mushroom Kingdom: a star that fell from the sky. The course of history in the Mario world is often determined by the presence of stars and other celestial bodies on Earth, the Power Stars, the Beanstar, the Dark Star, the Shine Sprites, the Cobalt Star, etc. All of these entities contain great power and great capacity to be used for either good or evil, but one star proved itself more devastating, more uncontrollable than all the others. This was the Havoc Star, which fell to Earth in a fiery blaze. 

The Havoc Star crashed into the ocean, and the force of its impact was so great that it caused flooding in coastal cities around the world. Bowser’s forces found it smoldering in the sea depths, the water around it broiling to a white heat. They managed to contain it with Kamek’s magic and unleashed it as a weapon on the Mushroom Kingdom.

All stars are living beings, but this star seemed heedless of any attempts to communicate with it. It couldn’t be controlled or reasoned with, the only voice it had seemed to be a scream. Bowser didn’t see it as a sentient being and instead as an infinite energy source to be pointed in the general direction of a target.

The devastation this thing wreaked on the Mushroom Kingdom was total, and there was a lot of collateral damage even among Bowser’s own forces, as Kamek’s attempts to wrangle it relied a lot on trial and error. Even Bowser grew uneasy at the extent of its power, but he was far too prideful to admit to his fear and carried on laying waste to the Mushroom Kingdom. 

Mario and Luigi had no way to fight this thing. They decided to focus their efforts on evacuating as many of the Toads out of the Kingdom as possible, hoping to buy time for the Star Sprites to find a solution. But, they are only two men, and the star was more powerful than both of them. Luigi is captured, and Mario and Peach are forced to go into hiding. Bowser takes the opportunity to install himself in the now vacant Peach Castle.

Alone together, Mario decides to make one final bid to stop Bowser. Peach will run for the border while Mario takes one last stand against Bowser.

And this is the second meaning of “Fallen Star” because Mario never returns from this encounter.

Mario throws down with Bowser inside of Peach’s Castle, but when Mario gains the upper hand, Bowser orders Kamek to unleash the Havoc Star on the castle with the two of them still inside. 

Kamek is alarmed and refuses at first, but Bowser is seeing red. 

He’s basically razed the Mushroom Kingdom to the ground and still Peach eludes his grasp?

The only thing left for it is to burn everything.

So, the Havoc Star is set loose upon Peach’s Castle, where it proceeds to tear it apart. 

Bowser manages to escape by the skin of his teeth. 

But, Mario is pinned under falling rubble and unable to get away,

So the castle collapses with him inside it. 

When the smoke clears, and there’s nothing left of the castle but blackened stone,

Bowser is in a state of shock. 

Somehow, he didn’t expect Mario to actually die. 

The reality of it is only now sinking in.

And, he doesn’t know what he feels.

Meanwhile, Luigi is being held prisoner in the dungeon of Bowser’s castle

Because he’s too dangerous to let loose.

Bowser actually gives him the news in person.

He’s halting and awkward with it. He doesn’t attempt to console Luigi, but there’s something almost regretful in his words.

Luigi’s brain is a blank.

He can’t comprehend what’s being said to him. 

All he knows is that Bowser must be lying.

He sits in that dungeon for months, waiting for Mario to rescue him.

And as each day goes by without any sign of his brother, 

A horrible, all-consuming terror takes hold of Luigi’s soul.

What if it’s actually true? 

Three months go by of Luigi trying, with increasing desperation, to stamp down the awful possibility.

But then, finally, one day, there’s chaos up above.

Someone is storming the Bowser’s Castle. 

Luigi hears crashing, blasting, all kinds of foundation-rocking noise

Before a masked person drops into his cell. 

The person with the mask blasts a hole open in the wall,

And pulls Luigi out into a waiting airship.

Only when the airship is flying away does his rescuer remove their mask.

It’s Daisy. 

Daisy is overjoyed to see Luigi, but Luigi only has one question:

“Is Mario with you?”

The look on Daisy’s face says it all. 

For the first time in three months, Luigi breaks down completely. 

Everything, everything is gone.

Everything has lost its color.

Daisy just holds him as he cries. 

When they arrive back in Sarasaland, they are greeted by an anxious Peach.

She made it out. 

She, and the other Toads that managed to escape, are hiding out in Sarasaland. 

Daisy and the rest of the Sarasaland nobility have been spreading rumors of Peach taking refuge elsewhere. 

They have most of Bowser’s forces convinced that Peach has run to the Lunar Kingdom with plans to head deeper into the galaxy.

Only Daisy, her father, and the other four kings know that Peach is actually in Sarasaland. 

For the first few weeks of his own exile in Sarasaland, Luigi doesn’t see much of Peach.

He seems to be numb to the world. He sleep walks through his day. 

At night, he’s wracked with sobs and can’t catch a single wink.

Daisy, to her credit, doesn’t leave his side during all this time. 

She spends all day with him, she encourages him to eat, she lies next to him at night.

She feels overwhelmed. 

She’s grieving for Mario, too, but she knows Luigi is feeling an anguish beyond her comprehension.

She feels inadequate. 

But, Luigi clings to her desperately each night. 

After a month, Daisy tells Luigi she has to tell him something important. 

It’s a struggle for Luigi to hear what anyone else is telling him.

But Daisy has such a serious look on her face that Luigi summons the effort to pay attention.

“Maybe we should’ve told you sooner, but we didn’t want to overwhelm you with so many things at once.

“Peach is pregnant. 

“You’re going to be an uncle.”

Shock. Even greater than the moment in the cell. 

When? How?

Daisy admits she doesn't know all the details.

“After all. I wasn’t there.”

But, apparently, that last night before Mario left to fight Bowser,

Peach and Mario knew there was a decent chance they might both die.

They didn’t want to leave anything unsaid or undone.

Daisy wonders if perhaps a baby was the outcome Peach was hoping for. 

To carry on his legacy, you know? 

Luigi is distraught. 

It’s Mario’s baby. He should be here.

Daisy agrees. Mario should be here.

But, Luigi is here. 

Peach needs him.

Daisy takes Luigi to see Peach immediately after.

Her smile is apologetic. 

She asks Luigi how he feels.

He says he doesn’t know.

Which is fair.

It’s a lot to process.

Peach says the baby is doing well. 

Toadsworth was evacuated too, and he never leaves her side.

Luigi doesn’t need to worry.

She tells Luigi the baby will probably have a lot of questions about its legacy.

Luigi will be able to answer questions that she doesn’t know the answer to.

Also, she wants the baby to know Italian.

Mario taught her some things, but she isn't fluent. 

She doesn’t want the baby to lose that part of its heritage.

She’s gushing, saying too many things at once. 

She’s wrought with emotion, too. She hardly knows what she’s saying.

But, the last thing she says is,

“I’m so glad you’re here, Luigi.

“I give thanks everyday that you’re here.”

It’s strange, but the news of the baby seems to rally Luigi.

While obviously still grieving, the darkness that had weighed him down seems to lighten somewhat.

He seems more awake, more alive.

Whenever Peach asks for something, its practically a race between him and Toadsworth who can get it to her first.

Luigi, as the younger, has the advantage. 

He holds her hair back when she needs to puke, he gets up in the dead of night to make her food.

Though she knows it isn’t fair, Daisy grows jealous. 

Luigi is spending so much time with Peach, and the baby seems to unite them in a way that leaves Daisy feeling left out. 

Besides, she knows that Luigi never really stopped being attracted to Peach.

But, Daisy is enough of an adult not to go to Peach with these feelings.

Instead, she communicates them to Luigi in a very apologetic, mature way. 

She admits she feels like a failure. She wasn’t able to help Luigi like Peach was.

Luigi is surprised that she thinks of herself that way.

He tells her he’s immensely grateful for how kind and patient she has been with him.

How patient she’s still being with him.

Daisy saved his life. He’s never forgotten that.

Daisy presses her hand to her mouth to hide her smile.

But, she can’t hide her tears.

She though she hadn’t been able to help Luigi with his grief.

But all this time, Luigi thought of her as his hero. 

The months pass, and the time comes.

In a cottage hidden away from the world, Peach goes into labor.

Luigi and Daisy wait outside while Peach is attended to by a doctor.

After a while, Daisy is called into the room.

Peach has asked for her.

Daisy is taken aback.

“Why me!?”

The nurse says she doesn’t know. Peach asked for her specifically.

Daisy heads inside nervously.

She don't know nothing about birthing no babies.

Luckily, Peach just wants Daisy to hold her hand.

She tells Daisy she didn't ask for Luigi because she didn’t want him to panic.

Daisy laughs nervously.

Joking around like this, it almost feels like old times.

Eventually, Luigi hears the baby cry.

Daisy comes outside and gives the thumbs up.

It’s all good.

In the months leading up to this moment, when Peach and Luigi were discussing names, Peach admitted she didn’t want to name the baby after Mario.

Mario’s name would already be a huge part of the baby's life. 

Peach wants the baby to have its own identity.

Luigi is touched that Peach understands.

Anyway, it’s a moot point, since the baby is a girl.

The doctor tells Luigi he can go in and see them.

He goes.

Peach looks exhausted, but happy.

The baby is sleeping. 

Luigi can’t believe how beautiful the baby is.

Peach agrees.

“We did good, huh?

“Would you like to hold her?”

Luigi is nervous.

He’s afraid he’ll drop her.

Peach says she trusts him.

Luigi takes the baby.

She’s so light. 

She doesn’t wake up, only stirs under the blanket.

They’re a banished princess and a disgraced hero, both living in exile,

But home is right here in his arms. 

The Italian word for star is stella.

It seemed like a perfect name.

“Hello, Stella.

“I’m your uncle.”

[stark-web-warriors]

Stark Contrast [CHAPTER TWO]

Masterlist | Chapter One | Chapter Two | Chapter Three

Pairing: Peter Parker x Stark!Reader

Word count: 7464

Warnings: Swearing, Threat of NC (but no NC)

Chapter Summary: Y/N goes to the Back-To-School party with Peter to meet up with Ned and MJ and ends up meeting the members of Pai’s club, MISA when things turn for the worst.

A/N: So I’ve been working diligently and am getting Chapter Two out early!!! I’m so excited for Chapter 3 y’all have no idea! So as I was writing this I saw several of y’all comment about how wholesome it was and I was like —am I gonna ruin it? But this has been the story from the start and I’m so glad to see it taking to life. If you want to be added to the tag list for this fic, Inbox me and I‘ll add your username. Members of the tag list MUST reblog. I look forward to your feedback, friends!

Chapter Two

The one condition Tony insisted on was that Peter Parker must go to the party with Y/N. It was embarrassing, to say the least, when the man called Peter’s Aunt May to make sure of that. So here Y/N was, sitting in her running Audi as the rain came down and made the empty street gleam navy. She leaned over to try to peak out the passenger window for any sign of the boy coming out of the apartment complex. She was anxious and growing self-conscious in her new outfit and how much of her body it exposed. That was Tony’s compromise. Y/N could miss their “bonding time” and go to the party instead, but Tony would help her get ready for the party, and the man knew parties.

After school Thursday he took Y/N to a fancy store she’d never heard of where the price tags didn’t dip below $500, which was probably why she’d never heard of it. The moment they walked in two women, who looked like they’d probably been supermodels in their younger days, hurried to assist. One led Tony away and sat him down on a chaise lounge by the fitting room with a cold glass of sparkling water. The other whisked Y/N away toward the clothing in the boutique, speaking about what they were looking for as if she were going to the red carpet. It was all very overwhelming at first, but Y/N caught a glance at a mesh shirt she liked. It was simple and looked like her style which made her comfortable. The woman was very nice when Y/N pulled it out and brought a black bralette and classic pair of black skinny jeans to match, as well as a silver chained purse and matching belt to accessorize. It was nice to know that she was willing to let Y/N make decisions for herself and still it was strange when she knew how to make that decision better. The whole “accessorizing” thing wasn’t anything Y/N had entertained much before, and she never thought of a belt as anything more than a tool and a purse a pocket-extender. Still, she put the ensemble on behind the lavender curtain for the changing room and slid it open to reveal Tony ready to approve or disapprove.

He choked on his water and sputtered, “Absolutely not,” the moment he caught a glimpse. The shop assistant rushed toward Tony as he coughed, but he held up a hand to hold her off and stood up. “That is too risqué and I can’t allow you to go out in public in that.”

“I mean, when you think about it, you saying that is like saying that I, a minor, should be sexualized, and if I wear revealing clothing it’s my fault if a man sexualizes me, and is that really the message you want to send your only daughter?” Y/N rambled, knowing Tony well enough to know he’d see right through the speech, but would also appreciate the effort.

“Why don’t you go ahead and run that,” Tony said to the supermodel who had styled Y/N, handing her his gold card and walking toward Y/N.

“I thought you said it was too risqué?” Y/N mocked as the man stepped up to her. “What do you even think is gonna happen at a party jam-packed with a hundred teenagers?” The girl asked, trying to give a more justified reason for her to have the outfit that she’d grown so attached to in a matter of minutes.

“You happened, didn’t you?” Tony quipped.

Y/N smiled at how much she appreciated this version of parental interaction. He was parent enough to take responsibility and care, but he was childish enough to be satisfied dissing the teen and then giving her the benefit of the doubt. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. It was a fun experience, even if it was weird, and she appreciated the bonding time.

Y/N was uncomfortably adjusting the mesh top when Peter hurriedly opened the passenger door and climbed in. He began to apologize as he buckled in, “Sorry I’m lat-Holy fuck.” The boy hadn’t really changed in demeanor but lost his thoughts when he looked at Y/N clad in all black. “You look like a million bucks. Like, I mean, actually. Is that a Coach bag? Aren’t those things like a thousand dollars each?” Y/N giggle at Peter’s innocent surprise. He seemed more shocked by the branding than the serious skin Y/N was sporting, and it was relieving.

“Tony wanted to take me to this one fancy boutique,” Y/N explained with a giggle as she shifted into drive.

“Okay yeah, okay, that makes sense, yeah,” Peter mumbled to himself as they drove off into the neighbourhood.

“Are you nervous, Peter?” Y/N inquired, glancing away from the street to peek at the panicked boy. “I mean, I’m no party expert or anything, but what’s the worst case scenario, someone double dips in the guac?”

“It’s not that, it’s just…” Peter trailed off. He clearly didn’t really want to share too much. “The last time I was at a school party, something bad happened and I had to leave very suddenly, and I was already worried about something like that happening again, and now its like, I get in and you look super hot, and I mean, I’m not into you like that or anything, like we just met, but-“

Y/n laughed, “Peter!” Anything to get the boy to stop spiralling off into infinity. “I’m flattered that as my friend you think I look bitchin’ and if anything happens, it’s okay. You can find me and I can drive you home right away.”

“It’s not-“ For the first time, Peter paused to take a breath and rephrase, “Thank you, Y/N.”

“You know you don’t have to be so jittery around me,” Y/N insisted. “Clearly you’re good at communicating or you wouldn’t be Tony’s intern, or have such good friends. Don’t be a rambling mess around me. I want a friend, too.” Y/N saw a large amount of cars parked on the street and heard the loud bass of the music pumping down the street and decided it best to park where she was at the end of the block, where she had room. She moved the gear shift into park and looked at the seemingly calmer boy beside her.

“I’m sorry. I have a lot of responsibilities and I still try very hard to have a personal life and you make me nervous because you're kind of really close to both realms. Like, you’re the center of the Venn-diagram, and it makes me worry that the space between is getting smaller, and I’m not ready for that yet,” Peter explained calmly, finally holding his composure.

“Thank you,” Y/N sighed. “I’m glad you told me that… AND we still barely know each other. Everything you’re afraid of hasn’t happened yet. Can we please cross that bridge when it actually starts experiencing structural integrity wearing and needs maintenance?”

“That was a very specific metaphor,” Peter commented, making the young girl smile and push her way out of the car into the barely-there rain. As expected, Peter followed suit, and the two walked in the front door with their dignity fully stocked.

The moment they opened to door it was absolute fucking chaos. The music was booming, the voices were blaring, heat rushed out to be released into the night for only a moment before the door closed behind Peter and Y/N. The two teens felt lost for a moment looking at all the sweaty high schoolers crammed into one house, albeit very large. Peter spotted Ned and MJ leaning against a wall in the corner and began navigating Y/N through the crowd toward them. Of course, this entailed him getting cut off by someone and consequentially Y/N stumbling into Peter’s back. Miraculously, however, they managed to cross to the corner Ned and MJ were taking cover in.

“It’s very loud,” Y/N yelled, unsure how she was supposed to make friends over the sound. She glanced around nervously, wondering what she’d gotten herself into.

“You look hot,” MJ shouted back, nonchalantly as she gave a cool backwards nod. Y/N was thrilled to have MJ’s approval, and still, she smiled at her shuffling feet insecurely.

Finally, Ned mentioned, “It’s quieter out by the pool,” before leading the group away to the back yard. This, of course, involved travelling through the dense crowd around the DJ stand, which all but blasted their ears off, but it was worth it. They travelled to the far side of the strangely shaped swimming pool. It was lit up for the night, making the entire backyard light up with an aqua glow. It was clear why there were so few people outside. It had just rained, everything was damp, the pool had some stray leaves floating in it. It wasn’t exactly party central, and that felt just perfect to the group of misfits.

“I can’t believe they’re letting Flash DJ again,” MJ complained, kicking a nearby branch into the pool for no apparent reason outside of impulse.

“Because of what he did to Peter last year,” Ned agreed solemnly with a sad nod, only to be immediately contradicted by the tiny girl beside him.

“No, because he’s a crappy DJ,” MJ groaned inconsiderately. She was a confusing person who never quite did what you expected of her. Before the conversation could continue, she’d plopped down on the cement and was wading her feet in the pool, converse and all.

One thing stuck in Y/N’s mind that she really wanted the answer to. “What did Flash do to you, Peter?” the teen inquired concernedly. As far as she knew, Flash was just some smart guy in a couple of her classes. She didn’t have the social context to think anything ill of him, and the hint made her apprehensive for a number of reasons.

Before Peter could respond, Pai was running up exclaiming, “You’re here!” before wrapping her arms around a very stunned and rigid Y/N. It was weird how silky the girl's hair was falling off of Y/N’s shoulders, and she wasn’t quite sure how to engage in this fake-y femme behavior. She’d seen girls do this with each other—the high pitched squeak, the hug, the small talk, and then they would finally admit what they wanted—It wasn’t anything she’d ever encountered herself. Awkwardly, Y/N tried to hug back but wasn’t sure how to do it without tearing out that impossibly slick and long hair. “I’m so glad you could make it. You know, Liz used to throw this bash, but she had to move last year because her dad went to jail. So sad,” Pai put forth a small pouty face, clearly not stopping to think about the fact that Y/N didn’t have the first clue who Liz was. “Hey, Peter. Ned,” the bubbly girl greeted, looking across the group to find MJ on the ground. “Michelle, you’re gonna get your shoes wet!” Pai warned with a wave of a hand and a smile, causing MJ to shake her head and look up confusedly, then turn to look at the oblivious girl with a face that begged how she even missed that point. “Anyway, Y/N, there’s someone I wanted to introduce you to,” the skinny girl explained as she slid a boney arm under Y/N’s and began dragging the girl away. Y/N looked back at the group, trying to make an apologetic face as Pai continued, “His name is Amadeus Cho and he’s the president of MISA. Korean guy. Super smart and super hot. He’s the host of the party this year. Anyway, he wanted to meet you and so I told him I’d introduce you two.”

Y/N sighed. While she wasn’t used to the girl-y social behavior, she could tell Pai’s heart was in the right place. She was just trying to help Y/N make a new friend, and that was sweet, even if it did entail dragging the helpless girl back toward the daunting house. Pai led Y/N through the large crowd of the party and around the corner where she’d previously been with Peter, Ned, and MJ to a flight of carpeted stairs, briefly mentioning, “Some of us are hanging out upstairs to get away from everything,” before pulling Y/N all the way up and into what appeared to be a second living space. There was a kitchenette on the back wall, and in the center of the room was a floor pit with some modern art-looking furniture. A white couch and chair of oblong shape cornered around a purple rug on a black tile floor. The whole place looked so rich, and Y/N worried when she caught the judgmental eyes of the 5 teens scattered across it. There was a girl sitting on the purple rug going through magazines, one guy bringing a bowl of chips over from the kitchenette, which seemed strange at a party where there was literally a kitchen full of food set out downstairs, there were two teens laying on the couch together, cuddly enough for Y/N to assume they were a couple, and finally, there was the only person who could have been Cho, sitting on the artistic white chair like it was a goddamn throne. Y/N felt so far out of her element all she could do was follow Pai’s lead.

“Y/N. Nice to finally meet you. I’m Amadeus Cho,” the composed boy offered a hand.

“Oh really? So people actually call you by your first and last name, that is to say you go by your full name,” Y/N could hear Peter’s rambling coming out her mouth as she shook the kid’s hand, and quickly pulled away, stopping herself while trying to recover with a string of, “Cool, cool, cool. Very cool. That’s very cool that you do that.” She wanted to facepalm her head back into the womb at the way she was acting.

Amadeus looked at Y/N strangely, and with the subtly of a K-Pop star, and elected to ignore her stance behavior in favor of introducing his friends. “This is Mercedes,” he gestured to the girl sitting on the rug. The girl who waved was fashionably dressed in a bright cyan that complimented her dark, pigmented skin tone. Her hair was bleached blonde and clearly had spent a couple of hours in the flat iron. Her outfit was gaudy, but modest, which made Y/N miss the likes of Peter and MJ who, although very awkwardly, made her feel killer to wear it. “On the couch is Sam and Noah. They’ll probably be too infatuated with each other all night to notice you’re here, so you can pretty much ignore them,” While this sounded like a jab the boys would be offended by, they didn’t so much as wince, which was odd, but Y/N shrugged and took a seat next to Pai on the raised floor, dangling her feet into the floor pit. “I’m Aleksi, by the way,” the last boy in the studious glasses introduced himself bitterly as he returned with the bowl of chips and joined Mercedes on the floor.

“So word on the street is that you’re Tony Stark’s daughter,” Cho implied as he leaned forward in his chair to his half-open hands like he was Sherlock Holmes. The motion pulled down his sleeve just enough to reveal a very expensive looking silver watch.

In her discomfort, Y/N’s sarcastic side immediately responded, “Oh really? Because I thought it was pretty well hidden…”

“Hey, hey,” Amadeus slowly held his hands up in surrender, “if you don’t want to talk about it you’re in the right place. Unlike the party animals downstairs, most of us up here are the members of MISA. That is to say, we understand sharing only what of your background you’re comfortable with revealing.” He smiled like a fucking romantic interest in a K-Drama, and Y/N couldn’t tell if she found it charming or it made her want to punch him in his perfect teeth. Clearly, he thought of himself as elite, and she could see why, but being oblivious didn’t make him a bad person. He could be a charmer and still be a super nice considerate person, and she wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt.

“No, no,” Y/N began. “It’s just-” she caught a glimpse of how hopeful Pai looked introducing Y/N to her friends and felt her soften her resolve for the sake of the kind girl who’d been so nice to her since her first day. “I mean, it’s alright, I guess. There’s just not much to tell. I’m more interested in what you all are getting up to up here, anyway,” Y/N said in an attempt to change the subject.

“Mostly just hanging,” Mercedes responded casually, setting aside another magazine from the stack. Y/N was impressed by how easily she could handle the paper with the bejewelled stiletto nails the girl was sporting.

“What’s with the magazines?” Y/N asked. Her interest was peaked because even Steve Rogers didn’t mess around with paper magazines these days.

“Planning out a ransom note,” Mercedes mentioned nonchalantly as she flipped through another magazine. “On a completely unrelated note, do you spell Stark with one ‘R’ or two?” IT was such dead delivery Y/N wasn’t sure if she was really supposed to laugh at that joke until the stylish girl on the carpet glanced up with a playful smile. Y/N grinned back and let out what was more a huff of air than a laugh.

“Mercedes is trying to find an issue that features more than two races. She’s trying to make a point about whitewashing and how damaging it is when magazines will make sure to have their one ‘token black model’ and call it diversity,” Amadeus Cho explained, the cheeky smile still plastered to his face.

“I’m writing an opinion piece about the appalling lack of racial diversity because it’s always a line up of white people and then one person of a different race so it's 'not racist’,” Mercedes elaborated passionately. “Look around this room,” she gestured, “We’ve got at least 5 ethnicities at the same party. That not what the world looks like and they need to acknowledge that, and if they don’t my letter to the editor, I’m going to take that rejection letter and send it to their competitors to publish.”

This felt huge. This girl was proudly doing loud work of her own volition for a cause that would make it seem like a whisper. Mercedes was doing it anyway just to have a voice in her cause. Y/N couldn’t help but feel a mix of intimidation and inspiration. “That is honestly so cool,” Y/N admitted, earning a wink of Mercedes’s deep brown eye. The girl turned to the group excitedly and opened it up to the floor. “Anyone else have an obscenely awesome social project they’d like to tell me about?” 

“Amadeus Cho has one!” Pai piped up immediately. It was honestly sweet how much she wanted to be involved in the group, but it was also slightly hard to watch her trying to get approval from such intense people. The first day Y/N met Pavitra she had mentioned MISA and how much it felt good to have people of untraditional backgrounds to share the experience with, but she never seemed the type to chain herself to a pole for the sake of racism in America and that was okay. She was entitled to try to live her life as normalized as possible. It was so clear that Pai was working twice as hard, as a result, to feel included. It was sad because Y/N liked Pai. She thought Pavitra was a kind girl with a grounding in where she came from and ambitions that would fly her into another galaxy. So to see her trying to be involved by boasting her friends' success was conflicting.

“I’m working on a drone with reflective panelling that I can send into North Korea airspace to expose the absolute horrors that reside there,” Amadeus mentioned like it was yesterday’s math assignment, causing Y/N to drop her jaw. So he was a science guy with a social justice cause all packaged into the body of a member of BTS. She now understood why Pai was so infatuated with the guy. “I’m not done just yet, but I have it in my room along with some pictures from the test run if you’d like to see,” Cho offered.

“Oh my god, absolutely,” Y/N responded. She took Amadeus Cho’s hand and allowed him to lead her further away into the large house. By the time they reached to door frame, she felt miles away from the party going on downstairs. Cho led her into the dark and tidy bedroom, over to his desk, which was littered with parts, but right in the center was the shining glory of a genius mind. Y/N noticed a stack of photos printed out and stacked up on the left side of the drone and mindlessly picked them up and glanced through. They were all pictures of building that she couldn’t quite understand, but she was too intimidated to say that she didn’t know what they meant, so she set them back down and sat down on the nearby bed as Cho picked up the drone.

“She took a hit during the test run and needs some repairs, but the reflective panelling should still work if I just-” Amadeus forced way for a switch that was stuck and the thing disappeared, peaking Y/N’s interest. “Wanna see something cool?” Cho asked, earning a shy nod from Y/N. He flipped the drone so that the panels were facing away from him, and Y/N watched his torso visually disappear.

She furrowed her brows as she said, “The panels broadcast the signal of the room behind you as if you weren’t there. How do they do that?”

“Memory,” Amadeus explained as he placed the drone back on the desk and began walking toward where Y/N sat on the bed, “Think of it like Google Maps, but good. There are audio sensors that help it locate itself and it can tell where things are in a space as it correlates to a 3D rendering of the space. Every second it’s piecing together that map. It knows the wall is behind me, but I’m not supposed to be there, it knows that from its maps and the sensors, it can still tell that wall is behind me, so that’s what it projects.” The bed sank beside Y/N as the attractive teen took a seek so close she could feel the seam of his jeans brush her leg.

Y/N could feel her heart beating louder and faster, wondering if she was really okay with what this was leading to. “You seem very proud of yourself,” Y/N managed to tease nervously. She knew she wanted to maybe kiss him some, just some good old fashion dumb teenager acting out kind of thing.

Amadeus Cho leaned in close to Y/N’s ear and near-whispered, “Maybe I am.” His warm breath made her ear tingle as the boy pulled away with that sly smile.

Y/N looked up to Cho curiously. She wasn’t sure his endgame, but she had come to the conclusion that she wanted to play. Amadeus took a steady hand and brushed back Y/N’s hair. The cold of his watch roused her flesh as it brushed across the back of her neck. Their foreheads touched and Amadeus moved his face so that Y/N felt the tickle of their noses just barely touching. The next thing she knew, those beautiful lips were against hers. Before she knew it, Amadeus was leaning back onto the bed, and Y/N’s thirsty lips stayed attached to Cho as she leaned forward over him, desperate for the hydration. He began to massage her sides through the mesh shirt, grasping tighter and tighter as they continued. Y/N placed her fingers in his perfectly thick black hair as the boy beneath her trailed a hand up her back and onto her head. She felt a slight pressure at first, but then she felt a shove that left her looking at the boy's stomach. She knew she didn’t want to do that, and she wasn’t about to submit.

“Let’s just keep doing this,” Y/N suggested, placing a sensual kiss below the boy’s ear. He pulled her face right back in, smashing a violent kiss onto her lips. Cho carefully slid his hands up the back of Y/N’s Mesh shirt, tickling the exposed skin. His hands began fiddling with the bralette and Y/N immediately reached back to gently push his arms away, only to be ignored as he continued to play with the band of the bra. Her heart was beginning to flutter, and not in a good way. Y/N pulled away and embarrassedly but firmly told him, “Please don’t.” Amadeus nodded and smiled, pulling his hands out of the girl's shirt and showing them like he was trying to prove he wasn’t holding a weapon. Y/N took a deep breath to remind herself that he listened to what she said and didn’t push it any further before leaning her face back down to the beautiful boy laying below her. She was about to lean in for another kiss when she felt a powerful shove to the top of her head and found herself face to face with the budge in his jeans. “Okay, I thought I made it pretty clear I didn’t want to do that,” Y/N said, anger heating up quick, struggling to gain her ground as she continually sank into the marshmallowy mattress.

“Where are you going?” Cho investigated frantically as he pulled himself into a seated position once again.

Y/N finally managed to stand and trying to keep it together she stated curtly, “I’m going back to my friends-“

“Bitch!” The next thing Y/N new her forearm was burning with how tightly it had been gripped. 

“What the fuck?” Y/N screamed. Tugging at her arm was a mistake. It was a million pins and needles, like when kids used to give each other ‘snake bites’ on the playground. “Let go of me,” she mustered the lowest her voice could go.

“Why the fuck would you lead me on like that, huh?” Cho argued back, tightening his grip. “After all that you say you’re leaving, like hell you are.” Y/N struggled more, beginning to really panic, knowing that no one could hear the encounter over the party, that Amadeus was just getting more aggressive. An involuntary tear left her eye at the pain of a particularly hard tug on both their ends and suddenly at that moment he just let go. Y/N knew that should have been the moment she booked it out the door, but she was so confused by the behavior should couldn’t help freezing and looking at Cho, who was quite horrified and starring at the doorway.

“Y/N,” the scared girl spun her head around to see Peter Parker standing in the doorway with a hand held out. Peter took a hard swallow, and she could see he was uncomfortable with the situation, but still trying to help. “We’re going,” Peter told her seriously.

Y/N took a deep breath to compose herself and then casually strolled toward Peter as if nothing had happened, taking his hand and allowing him to lead her quickly down the stairs. When they got to the main floor, Flash at the DJ stand shouted, “Where are you going, Penis Parker? The party’s not over yet.” Peter didn’t so much as wince as he rushed Y/N out of the house and straight into the middle of the street, suddenly lit up by headlights. The car laid on the horn as Peter pushed Y/N out of the way, the two now huddling between two parked cars across the street from the party. The two hadn’t realized they were panting until it had already started slowing down.

“How did you even know I was up there?” Y/N asked. Peter huffed, out of air from rushing out of the place, and simply tapped on his Stark Wrist Communicator as he continued to catch his breath. “I don’t understand,” Y/N admitted. She still didn’t know what the damn thing did and had no idea why he’d be using it to figure out she was up there in the first place.

“Mr Stark called me. He said he’d gotten a notification that your vitals spiked and asked me to make sure you were okay. The moment I hung up with him I got a distress signal-“

“I didn’t send a distress signal,” Y/N mentioned in her confusion.

“No, of course not. Jarvis did,” Peter explained, beginning to walk down the street toward where they’d parked. Y/N looked at him blankly and shook her head, still not understanding this strange world she’d been thrown into. “My guess is the yelling and the grabbing set him off, so the distress signal got sent to the nearest com-link wearer, me, and I pulled up the building schematic to trace the signal,” the small boy explained like it were elementary quantum physics.

Y/N shook her head hopelessly, “but it all happened so fast.” It terrified her that things could fall apart so quickly. That she could feel so unsafe in a situation she chose to put herself in. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Peter offered as they reached the Audi.

She really didn’t want to bring it up ever again, but she wanted to clarify something with this boy. “I don’t think he would have ever done it.” Peter cocked his head. “I mean, yeah he was angry and aggressive, but I don’t think he’d go that far. Fight a little sure, get a little too angry yeah. I just… he’s the kind of person who, about a month ago, would have been afraid I was gonna mug him because I was living in a poor, crappy city. The fact that now he thinks I’m a prize to be one because of my background I’m worth pushing around… It just seems so backwards and confusing, Peter! And that’s my whole world right now. I don’t understand any of it.” Quickly Y/N climbed into the car, trying to leave her embarrassment at the door. That was more than she had intended on sharing. So as Peter climbed into the passenger seat, Y/N apologized, “I’m sorry, Peter, I’ll just take you home. Don’t you worry about little old me. I just need the night to regroup.” 

“No. After everything, I’m making sure you get home safe. If that means I need to drive then, hand over the keys. I’ll do it.” Peter’s voice raised in nervous pitch, but he maintained his composure. 

“Peter, even if I wanted you to drive me home, I live at the Avengers Facility. Security is impossible and I’ve basically accepted that I will never be able to have friends over,” Y/N explained hopelessly.

“Except…” the boy encouraged, turning over his hand for her to go on. It was actually the glimpse of the comlink on his own wrist that actually allowed Y/N to process why Peter was special.

“Except you have security clearance because you're Tony’s intern.” Y/N disappointedly threw her head around in a circle as she put together the rather obvious information. “Fuck it,” Y/N responded, aggressively opened the driver’s door she’d only just entered, standing to look at Peter over the roof of the car. “You licensed?” She asked casually.

“I just passed my test last weekend,” Peter responded proudly.

The doors hadn't even closed when Y/N abandoned ship. “Yeah, no. Get back in the car,” the girl commanded, ducking back in head first.  She simply said, “Jarvis?” as she climbed back into the seat and buckled up. She knew his perception and memory protocols were intuitive enough that he’d know what she was asking.

“Routing you to the Avengers Facility, Miss Y/N,” the car responded as it roared to life. The interior began to glow blue from all the lights throughout the dash. Rapidly, the car backed up and pulled out of the parking spot, startling Peter enough that he grabbed the ceiling for stability.

“You can do that?!” the frantic teen wheezed. Y/N decided that was a rhetorical question, and simply smiled at the funny kid. He was so unpredictable—or maybe she just didn’t know him that well yet. 

Y/N reached down the left side of her seat and held the button back until her seat was as far back as it could go. She wasn’t exactly mindful of why she did it. Just to relax Y/N supposed. She just felt really closed off, and as thankful as she was for Peter, she wanted to be alone for a bit to sort her thoughts. The best she could do to indulge that was to rotate her body some to face away from the boy. She didn’t want to talk, she wasn’t sure what to talk about, she hadn’t really put together her whole feelings on the matter. The first couple minutes she felt guilty like she was ignoring Peter, but after several, it seemed normal. She could hear was the quiet engine and the wind on the windows lulling her.

“This is so sad. Jarvis, play Desposito.”

Peter had delivered the line absolutely deadpan, and in the silence, both teens immediately froze to anticipate what Jarvis’s response would be. Y/N’s interests were perked enough that she peeked over her shoulder at the boy. She wasn’t even sure if Jarvis was programmed to respond to him. Peter, as a favor, had shown Y/N a bit more about how the com-link works over lunch during the week and his AI was named Karen, so the J.A.R.V.I.S. system was clearly anchored on the Stark name. It had been silent too long, like Jarvis was deciding. Y/N rotated in her seat back toward Peter so she could get a good look at the console. A flamenco-style guitar flourish resonated through the speakers. Shocked, Y/N turned toward Peter who’s jaw drop said he was screaming on the inside. A slower guitar riff continued as Y/N moved to sit her seat up in pure shock. The notes descended into the song, the meme, the legend and Y/N lost it. She felt laughter bubble up from her throat as she looked at the kid who instigated it. His jaw slowly closed, but the wide surprised eyes stayed. Y/N was loving the reactivity Peter had and wanted to keep it going, so she began dancing with her arms and her torso as the verse built close to the chorus. She was surprised at how easy it was to do a body roll in a car seat. It felt sexy in the suggestive outfit she was wearing, and in this situation, she felt safe to wield that power. It was just Peter, and he was her friend.

“Come on, Peter,” Y/N urged, grabbing the hands of the boy who’d been too thrilled watching her to join in himself. She made their hands dance together, turning Peter’s hands over and pulsing waves through them, before letting go for him to dance on his own whims. She wasn’t a dancer, but the pulsing waves she sent through her body in the car seat felt amazing. She looked over at Peter who was more tentatively head bobbing and swaying side to side, but she was satisfied. It was the kind of song you participated in, and she wanted to share this experience with him until the last line.

The car returned to silence. Putting her arms down, Y/N could feel the beginnings of sweat forming on her back where it was stuck against the leather interior, but it was refreshing. She felt a renewed energy by building a positive experience, and it didn’t make the other one okay, but it made her feel like she was refocused and could better sort out her feelings about what happened, without the depression of them being that last impact. “Thanks, Peter. I needed that,” Y/N admitted in the silence that had returned as the car pulled up out front the Avengers Facility.

“Don’t get me wrong, I was just making a joke to tease you—as a friend of course. Jarvis did the rest,” Peter defended with his hands up in innocence.

Y/N smiled and shook her head as she got out of the car. Peter behind her. The moment both doors were closed the car drove off to perform its parking protocol. Y/N had gotten used to that one small perk of her new life. Never having to park in the garage when she got home was a lifesaver. She turned around to look at Peter, now standing alone on the driveway. “We’ll ask Tony if Happy is still around for the night and see if we can get you a ride home that way,” Y/N suggested, otherwise inviting the boy to follow her in.

She found Tony sitting at the bar in the room she had waited in for so long that first night. He had a drink in his hand, but it was full and the ice inside was but slivers, so Y/N could tell he’d been sitting there for a while not drinking it. She figured maybe even just the action of pouring a drink felt better than doing nothing. He hurried over from the bar at the sight of the kids, worried expression. “What happened?” the man begged.

Y/N thought about what she’d be saying and licked her lips, knowing what she needed to have this conversation. “Peter?”

“Yeah,” the diligent boy stepped forward ready to care for her, and this was the kind of coddling she didn’t need.

“Do you know where the mess hall is?” She turned to face the boy.

Peter Parker assessed her for a moment with those deep chocolate brown eyes and understood, “Yeah, I do,” he answered before quickly walking out of the room.

As soon as the boy stepped out of the room, Y/N began, “Now don’t freak out.”

“What do you mean don’t freak out?!” Tony responded all high strung. “All I know is you sent out a distress signal, of course I’m going to freak out!”

“Well don’t freak out because then I’m gonna freak out!” Y/N rigidly explained, “And I’m not freaking out about it, are you?!”

“No! Are you?” Tony asked tentatively.

After a pause, Y/N insisted, “No.” It was a strange rollercoaster of 4 sentences, but Tony and Y/N were still trying to get used to this whole ‘Parent-Child’ dynamic. They didn’t know how to gauge these situations and it made sense that this would be a little bumpy. They were both scared. Both began waiting for the other to make the next move, and they ended up staring at each other for an uncomfortably long time. “Why’d you call Peter at the first sign of trouble?” Y/N asked finally, careful to start with something relatively explicable.

“I wanted to make sure everything was okay. I wanted you to go with him because I asked him to keep an eye on you,” Tony explained, making Y/N start to heat up.

“Okay, you realize that’s not his job, right? I’m not exactly sure what he does around here, but I know watching me isn’t in the job description.” Y/N felt offended that Tony would waste Peter’s time with tasks like that. Peter was her friend, if he was going to look out for her, he was going to do it because he wanted to, not because he was told to.

“And where would you be if I hadn’t called him, hm?” Tony quizzed, his lips beginning to disappear in reciprocated frustration.

“Right here!” Y/N yelled, throwing her hands up in the air. “There’s clearly something you’re not getting here, so here’s what happened,” the livid teen started listing off on her fingers, “Party. Guy. Bedroom. I said no. He got angry.” She had run out of fingers and decided to continue on anyway. “He wasn’t trying to force anything on me, he just grabbed my arm in a hissy fit. He wouldn’t have hurt me. He wasn’t going to rape me. So if you hadn’t called Peter, the guys hissy fit would have fizzled out on its own, I’d have left, and I would be RIGHT—FUCKING—HERE!” The girl gasped for air and dropped to the ground. She had run herself out of air in her aggression, and she was scared at the high-level emotions she was having. It was making her wheeze.

“Oh, kid,” Tony spoke softly, stepping forward and kneeling down on the floor next to her.

“I just…” she mustered herself. “I don’t know how to feel right now. It was nothing. I know that, but then everything around it makes me feel angry one moment, and fine the next, and I’m sad, but it’s not because of what happened. I don’t know how to feel.” Without another word, Tony sat down on the floor next to the girl and hesitantly wrapped his arms around her. Over his shoulder she continued to mumble, “It’s just so confusing because he’s not a bad guy and he didn’t really do a bad thing. Like he was responsive when I asked him to stop. But it made him angry, and I guess that makes me angry.” Tony pulled away, and lead Y/N to the couch so she could continue. “I think what bugs me the most is that a month ago that kid wouldn’t have looked my way, and now because you’ve slapped a name on me I’m desirable enough that he wants to fight for it. Like a possession.” Y/N stopped speaking and began chewing on her lip as she thought further.

Tony tapped her knee and stood up. He began working his way toward the bar and asked, “You want anything, kid?” as he swiped the watered-down drink off the counter and dumped it out.

“You realize that sounds wrong because you’re not supposed to be asking me that, right?” Y/N quipped back without missing a beat. She knew he never meant it in the first place, but it felt good and made the girl smile to herself. This was their relationship. He wasn’t her dad, and she wasn’t going to call him that. That didn’t describe their relationship. He was her senior, and she respected that, but that didn’t mean she had to conform her behavior around the associated social rules of Father-Daughter. So Tony and Y/N made quips at each other all the time. It felt nice to have that one note of stability. “Could you bring me a glass of water?” Y/N called over to Tony. Thinking nothing of the man’s lack of response as she heard the clinking of glasses and the sloshing of liquid being poured.

Tony returned, taking a seat on the couch with a single drink in his hand. “Where’s mine?” Y/N mocked offense. She did want the drink, but she much more enjoyed the game of verbal ping pong she and Tony played.

“I’m sorry, but this bar does not serve any underage gods, superheroes, or normal people,” Tony joked with a smile, earning an eye roll from his daughter. “So what are you gonna do if you have to see this kid at school?” Tony inquired earnestly.

Y/N furrowed her brow and shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t hate him… I just hate what he did.”

It was Monday when the girl calmly walked across the lunch room and smashed Amadeus Cho in the face with a lunch tray.

@ace-ingthroughlife-jk @just4muggles @i-alyssa @bravest-at-heart @bookgirlunicorn @really-lucas @loud-binch @alextheodd @avoirlu @tumbleerrtrash @amazingficsthatididnotwrite @superspideyparker @whatevsmels @niteshines-on @royal-sunflower @spiderman-masterlists @goldenrose1099 @fav-fan-ficccs @iamburdened @justalittlecrazybutimok @coonflix @takenbymyfandoms @elioelioeli0 @potterheadbbc @-thatgirloverthere-  @tomshufflepuff @peter-spider-parker-man @maddie-laufeyson @jackiehollanderr @mariah-danielle-winchester @hortonhearsahoeblr @lokimercuri @loxbbg @justanothermarvelfanaccount @darkblueeyedperson @faloncarington @creativedogs @cosmicparkerr

[shadowsof-thenight]

Had a Voice:  Chapter nineteen

Story summary: For two years you had let him dictate your every move. Dictate your time, your friends, your work. Everything, literally. And for the life of you, you could not understand why you’d done so.

Now, here you were. In a beautiful but still strange city that had never become your own. And you were all alone. It was time to take back your life.

Ship: BuckyXreader

Words: 1782

Warnings: None really, just some uncomfortable moments. Some sweaty palms because of it.

A/N: So, turns out that I can write when deadtired, just really slowly. However, I did not reread any of it. So please inform me of any mistakes you find. And don’t judge this chapter too harshly because of my preoccupied mind as I wrote it.

I hope you like it anyway.

“Come on, please!” Wanda pleaded with a big bright smile plastered on her face. She knew just how hard it was to say no to that face. You shook your head with a chuckle and looked back at your computer screen, intend on ignoring her pleas. She had been at it for 15 minutes already.

“Y/N! Who knows when we'll be able to do this otherwise” Wanda pressed on and you sighed. She knew just what to say to you. She knew that you probably wanted to say yes. She also knew why you weren't. You looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

“What did you have planned?” you asked and the smug look on Wanda's face told you she knew that she had won you over. She had been assigned a new mission and would leave in a few days time. It wasn't clear how long the mission would last exactly, but the estimation said two weeks.

And with the current amount of time the two of you spend together. Two weeks felt like an eternity.

Wanda wanted to go out and have fun before she left. She had mentioned before that she wanted to go to a theme park. And she had also mentioned the options in the area. In the end the she had picked Six flags and then she had spend two days asking you to take a day off from work.

It really wasn't that you were unwilling. You were just worried that it would be hard to fake your smile the entire day. Your heart was still aching over Bucky and you really didn't feel like a day out. That said, you did want to hang out with Wanda as much as you could before she left. You were already dreading the idea of missing her for two weeks. Wanda had been such a massive support the past two weeks and you weren't afraid to admit that you wanted to lean on her a little longer. She made the days a little more bearable.

You glanced back to the door leading to Tony's lab and saw it was ajar. You chuckled as you realised he must have been listening in. he was too nosy for his own good. It was because he worried bout you, you knew. And because Wanda had already asked him to convince you.

Without raising your voice, you called out his name and he stood in the doorway far too soon, blowing his cover of the hard working boss.

He smiled semi-innocently and pretended not to know what you wanted. Playing his game, went into a full blown explanation of Wanda's dilemma. That she was leaving soon and wanted to spend time with her friend. That she had been pleading with you for days, but as the loyal employee, you had turned her down time after time. You even mentioned that she was very distracting at this point.

Tony smirked, before joining in on your theatrical tale. He agreed that Wanda was a nuisance, keeping you from your work and now, by extension even him. Telling her that he should really duck her pay, which earned him a snort from the scarlet haired woman. Then he said the words that all of them had known were coming. He proposed a compromise. Where you would take the next day off and spend it with Wanda, if and only if she would let you get back to work at the present time.

Wanda laughed loudly as she did a victory dance while you chuckled as you watched Tony walk back to his lab, this time closing the door properly.

A few hours later you were finally turning off your computer and leaving the office. You stretched a little as you walked through the hallway towards the elevator. Stiff from the many hours of sitting behind your desk. You had been intend on doing as much as you possibly could, to make up for the impromptu day off.

You pressed the button for the elevator and waited for it to come. The plan was to take a quick shower before dinner and wash of the stiffness. You were bending down to touch your toes as the elevator dinged, signalling his arrival. Without looking at the other occupants you stepped inside.

Once there you quickly pressed the number to your floor and sighed loudly, before looking the other people inside. There were two people with lab coats hanging over there arms, talking amongst themselves. And behind them stood Bucky. Your smile faltered for half a second and then it was back. He smiled back and then turned back to his phone.

When the other two people got out on the next floor, your heartbeat started to rise quickly and your hands started to sweat.

“I heard you're going to six flag tomorrow” Bucky said as he put his phone in his pocket and stood next to you.  A little voice inside of you told you to run, to avoid this situation that was obviously making you anxious. Since you couldn't, you just plastered on a smile and nodded. Hoping that he could not see just how jittery you were, you wiped your hands on your jeans, before tucking them in your pockets.

Taking a deep breath, you tried to steady your pulse. You wondered how long it would be, before you could be around him again and not feel like this. Obviously two weeks weren't enough.

“Having a bit of fun, before she goes on that mission” you clarified and this time he nodded.

He then opened his mouth and closed it again a few times, without saying anything. Finally he settled on wishing you fun, before he quickly jumped out the elevator before the doors even fully opened. You snorted a little, strangely satisfied that this was as uncomfortable for him as it was for you. As soon as that sensation ended, you were kicking yourself again for screwing it all up. This was not what you had wanted at all. You wanted to kiss him. To hold him close. To tell him all your secrets. And to listen to his. Instead you were having small talk.

Stepping out of the elevator after him, you watched  as he practically sprinted towards his room. There he got in quickly and slammed the door behind him.  Shaking your head, you walked in the opposite direction. This had to get better soon.  Right?

***

The next morning you had gotten up early and joined Wanda for a quick breakfast in the kitchen. The compound was still quiet. Nobody was up yet. Or at least, nobody was on this floor. You were certain that two certain super soldiers would already be in the gym and that Natasha would soon join them.

As soon as you were done, you grabbed a thermos bottle for your tea and one for Wanda's coffee, while Wanda grabbed the keys to the car that Tony had generously loaned you for the day. Giddy with the prospect of the day, the two of you left the compound behind. Ready to have fun.

By the time the two of you had gotten back, you were happy that Wanda had talked you into going. It had not been hard at all to keep a smile on your face. The day had been a blast and the two of you spend so much time laughing, that you were expecting massive muscle aches in the morning.

And you weren't wrong. When your alarm went the next morning, the second extremely early day of the week, you groaned loudly as you moved your stiff muscles. It was far too early to be up, but here you were, getting dressed at 6 in the morning. And after the long tiring day yesterday, that was tough. Still, it was for a good cause, you tried to tell yourself. You repeated it like a mantra as you put your clothes on. And later again when you made breakfast and tea.

Today would be your second session with Dr Johnson. The appointment was at 8, which you regretted now. At the time you had figured that this would help you not miss too much of work. Today you wished for an extra hour of sleep. Then again you were probably too riled up to sleep.

You were anxious and somewhat nervous. There was no good answer to her question from last week and you had always been a bit of an overachiever. You always wanted people to like you, to please them. Especially authority figures such as teachers, bosses....and your shrink it turned out.

When you walked into her office, 8 o’clock on the dot, she greeted you with a kind smile. You shook her hand and returned it, hoping for it not to seem to forced. The nerves had gotten worse as you got closer to the office building. However, if she noticed them, she did a good job of ignoring it. Instead she asked how you were doing. She asked simple questions. Ones that would qualify as small talk. It helped you ease into the meeting and after a few minuted of de-stressing she finally asked you if you had an answer for her. Which you didn't really.

Instead you told her about your thought process. How you had trouble with forming a good coherent answer, because wasn't your presence in her office a sign that yes, you wanted the best for yourself?

She smiled and nodded, agreeing that it was definitely a good sign. And she was happy that you had taken the step, for yourself. She also explained that she worried that you were too focussed on others in your life. And while it was a good to have such a kind gentle heart, that she wanted you to put yourself first sometimes. You nodded in understanding. It was no secret that you always wanted to make others happy. That much you could admit to her and yourself.

Happy by your admission she then asks yo to tell her your life story. Explaining that she wants to know more about you, in order to help you figure this all out. And perhaps talking through the events that shaped you, would help you see your own cycles.

You smiled kindly at this but wondered if that would happen. After all, you were well aware of the things you did and all that had happened to you or because of you. It had not helped you see any patterns in your behaviour before. Besides the pleasing that it. How would repeating your life's story change that?

Tags: @slender–spirit @gracelynn318

I don’t want to sound needy, but I’ve gotten zero response from the two of you. Do you still want me to tag you or are you over this story? No harm if you are, just let me know.

[iwritefanficsometimes]

13 Days of Halloween Day 1: “This Haunted House is Kind of Over The Top.”

Welcome to Day 1 of 13 Days of Halloween Writing Challenge, or, as I’m calling it, #13DoHWC2018. Here’s the main post. Here’s the AO3 work. I hope you enjoy!

Day 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13!

Pairing: IronStrange

Rating: T

Warnings: Cursing, subtle and not subtle innuedo/sexual language

Word count: 3,827

Summary: Newly graduated Tony Stark apparently has nothing better to do than build a ridiculously scary haunted house. At said haunted house he meets a super hot tall guy who doesn’t take any of his shit, and it’s amazing.

----

Once Upon a Time in This is a Good Idea Land, Tony decided that he wanted to make the scariest haunted house anyone had ever experienced. He didn’t know why he wanted to do it, he couldn’t conceive of any motivation for a mature young man with post grad education in engineering and physics to be working on a haunted house. It was juvenile, and it was a waste of what Pepper insisted was his very valuable time, and okay, maybe he just wanted to scare the pants off some people because it sounded like fun. Of course, making a Very Scary Haunted House quickly became a matter of personal achievement. Tony wanted to make the biggest, scariest haunted house anyone had ever conceived of... and he kind of had.

“Are those, are those paramedics?” Rhodey asked, looking at the not one, not two, but three ambulances parked near the entrance of the house.

“Um, yeah, kind of. See, we had some problems with panic attacks that people thought were heart attacks the first night. They have to sign a waiver to go in, and no one under 18 is allowed to even be in the parking lot...” Tony looked over the gutted and rebuilt structure of his childhood home. Really he’d left all the outside parts the same. He’d only changed the inside. The inside... was a problem.

“Tony, I think you went overboard.”

“Maybe,” Tony shrugged and waved at one of the anxious looking 20 somethings who was looking between Tony and the ambulances and the door like he wasn’t really sure going in was a good idea. “I had to do something to keep me busy. It’s better than drinking myself to death.”

“You could have been, I don’t know, making something that isn’t going to be obsolete in a month?”

“In a world of changing technology that’s everything playtpus.“ Tony put his sunglasses on and took Rhodey’s arm in his to lead him towards the house. “See, that’s the beauty of a haunted house, really. If the technology I put in it is obsolete in a month, that doesn’t matter, because so is the haunted house.”

“I can’t believe you did this to your house.”

“Yeah you can.”

Rhodey sighed, “Yeah, I can. Well, at least you’re having fun. The press certainly is.” Rhodey looked towards the news crews that were just off the property of Tony’s parents’ mansion, talking into their cameras about the phenomena of the Stark Raving Mad House, coined, unfortunately, by Tony.

“Oh the press!” Tony giggled and Rhodey raised a cautious eyebrow, “Boy do I have plans for them. They can’t go in until the last night, obviously, wouldn’t want to spoil the surprises, but...” He waved at one of the cameras that was obviously zooming in on them and then blew a kiss. “Boy do I have plans for them.”

“Please don’t get sued.” Came out of Rhodey’s mouth in a way that was far too easy and familiar for his liking.

“They can’t sue me if they sign a waiver.” He kept grinning as he took Rhodey around the side of the house to the staff entrance. “Besides, with as many of them that have tried to sneak in cameras, I’m not feeling all that merciful. Damn cheats.” He opened the side door, usually an entrance into an elaborate kitchen now being used for make-up and staging. It was noisy and chaotic and it just felt right. “Maybe I should do stuff like this full time. There’s good money in it, and I’m having a blast.”

“I’m sure Obediah would love that.” Rhodey rolled his eyes and let Tony lead him to the out of the way counter in the far corner where there was finger food fit for a king and smoothies for people with constricting costumes or masks that wouldn’t allow them to chew.

“You know, he hasn’t even been riding my ass about it, I’m kind of surprised. I expected a lot more resistance than I got.” Tony picked up a crustless half sandwhich and handed it to Rhodey before claiming one of the protein shakes that the chef was making one or two in advance.

“I can’t believe you have a Michelin star chef making sandwiches for a haunted house.”

Tony looked at Rhodey with raised eyebrows. “Can’t you?”

Rhodey sighed and Tony grinned, “Unfortunately, yes. Of course you would.”

“Of course I would. Nothing but the best for my favorite people.” He said it a loud enough that anyone in the vicinity probably heard him. He’d hand picked these people months ago, and he was paying them well. The set designers, painters, set builders, construction team, costume designers and actors had all been top of their field. Tony spared no expense, and it was paying off, despite Pepper’s insistence that it would be a money pit. He was pretty sure she’d only been telling him that because she wanted him to stop though, not because she thought it was true. If nothing else Tony opening up his house for people willing to buy tickets would have drawn in enough money on it’s own.

“Yeah, okay. So, when are you gonna show me your secret project, or is this all I get?” He asked, indicating the half dressed actors and costume designers and emergency crew.

“Don’t worry, Honeybear, I’m going to take your through myself once the crowds clear out a little.”

“You don’t close the doors until past 2am Tony.”

“What, can’t hang anymore, army man?”

“I’m in the Airforce.” Rhodey corrects him without much heat.

“Huh, I could have sworn you were an army man. Must be all the paint fumes I’ve been sniffing as we got the place ready. And the construction adhesive. And-“

“Don’t-“ Rhodey said, shoving the straw of Tony’s shake into his mouth, “finish that.”

“Don’t finish my protein shake? Okay, Rhodey, whatever you say.”

“Oh shut up.” Rhodey laughed and Tony smiled at him.

“If you two are done,” a woman dressed like a zombie, smiled, showing all her grotesque fake teeth that looked far too real, “Some of us want to eat before our four hour shift.”

“Okay,” Rhodey said, dragging Tony away from the table. “I don’t know what you’ve done, but it’s officially freaky.”

“That was all the costume designer. She’s wonderful, Janet! Wave and acknowledge your awesomeness to my Rhodey.” Tony called in the general vacinity of the costuming area, there were several stalls set up for people to change in and beside them was a rack of costumes and a slight woman about Tony’s age, with pins in her mouth that she was to fake skin and torn cloth delicately.

“I’m awesome, Tony’s Rhodey, thanks for acknowledging it.” She mumbled around the pins, never dropping one.

“You know, the more I look around the less I like this.”

“That’s the point.” Tony smiled, “Come on, let me show you the studio.”

Tony dragged Rhodey to what used to be the large butler’s pantry that had been converted into a control room. Several people were inside, watching the monitors and making the affects happen, each wearing a head set to communicate with the actors in their rooms. The lights were dimmed, but there was no trace of red corn syrup or costumes to be found. It was the least creepy room in the house.

Tony dragged Rhodey to the closest screen, the one with the dinning room setting and a tablet set with realistic looking cooked human remains. The bigger pieces were fake, but each of the three actors at the table, dressed to resemble Tony and his parents, were eating rather docily from plates of completely edible non-human food that looked like human food. They were getting paid extra.

“Um...” Rhodey said, but Tony smacked him in the arm lightly to shut him up. “There’s a new group coming in, shut up.”

Sure enough a new group of people, mostly college age students, were walking into the room, marveling at the scenery. The floor around the table was dripping in red corn syrup, and there were rusty pieces of metal tacked up against the wall and hidden under the floorboard to give the room a rusty feel. Someone got the bright idea to try and touch the food and “Howard,” roared, exposing fangs and red contacts. The guy jumped and Tony giggled.

“I can’t believe you really did this.”

“Yeah you can. Keep up the good work, Gary.” Tony said, clapping the tech on the shoulder as he led Rhodey back out.

“You got it boss.” Gary said, pushing a button and making a leg on one of the plates jerk.

——

“This haunted house is like the equivilent of a monster truck with six foot tires. It screams ‘I’m insecure in my masculinity and overcompensating.’” Stephen Strange, med student with no sense of adventure told his best friend, Christine.

“This haunted house is amazing and you need to quit being such a condescending jack ass. A lot of people put a lot of work into making this really cool. Respect that.”

“I will not respect one of the geniuses of our generation wasting his talents on...” Stephen looked at the plain house with a line of people all the way to the gate, “this.”

“Don’t say it like that. The staff has a twitter account and it’s hilarious. They all say he’s fun to work for, and since when is giving people jobs a bad thing?”

“Since those people are actors and he could be employing people with actual college degrees.”

“Wow, you are determined to suck the fun out of this for me, aren’t you?” Christine grabbed his arm and dragged him to the back of the line. “Well, be prepared to be amazed. Everyone who’s come out on the other side says it’s terrifying. I’m so excited!”

Stephen looked down at her, nothing short of condescension in his expression and she punched him in the chest. “Don’t be a dick. This is gonna be fun. Trust me.”

“I trust you. What I don’t trust is the ambulances parked outside.”

Christine looked at the ambulances and back at Stephen. “I bet he’s paying them just to be here. And I bet they’re not actors.”

“I bet you chicken out before we get to the door.”

“Oh, whatever. I’m so excited for this.”

“Do you remember that Halloween party we went to last year?”

“Stephen, shut up.” She glared at him and he raised his hands in mock surrender.

“Alright but all I’m saying is that frat boy in a bed sheet-“

“Shut. Up.”

“-made you jump into a lunch bowl and-“ Christine clapped a hand over his mouth. Stephen kept talking into her hand, smug at the attention they were drawing.

“You’re such a dick.” She shook her head and wiped his breath off her hand and on to his tee shirt.

“You’re the one who hangs out with me.”

“I’m starting to forget why.”

——

“Okay, I can’t wait any longer. We’re going in with the next group.” Tony said after his leg had been bouncing for nearly half an hour. The house was running smoothly, no one needed him, and Tony’s attention to Jan’s costuming of the second shifters was only going to last so long.

“Tony, the line is huge, are you sure that’s a good idea?” Rhodey asked as Tony dragged him out of his chair and Rhodey had to quickly set down his soda or risk it being dropped in Tony’s haste.

“I’m positive that it’s a good idea, unless you want me to get in a costume and go scare people, because running a haunted house is even less fun than running a company once all the planning is over. Okay, maybe not less fun, but comparably unfun.”

Rhodey sighed and just followed Tony out of the kitchen back around to the front of the house. He smiled at the ticket taker and she gestured for the tall man and the girl beside him to stop coming inside. “We’ll get you in the next group.” She promised with a kind smile Tony really admired.

“We’ve been waiting for hours, he can wait for ten more minutes.” The tall man with angry blue (maybe gray) eyes said, and Tony didn’t hide that he was checking him out.

“I built this, and I can go in whenever I want to. You can wait ten minutes.” Tony shot back even though the tall guy was obviously not talking to him.

“Tony,” Rhodey murmured, “maybe we should wait, alright?”

“No, I’m not going to wait. It’s my creation. They can wait.” Tony usually agreed when Rhodey tried to reign him in, he didn’t do it all that often so if he was trying to now it was because he was being a serious asshole, but he didn’t like tall guy’s attitude.  And Tony kind of had a good track record with verbal sparring and someone ending up in his bed, but that was beside the point.

“That’s just like a one-percenter, entitled asshole much?” Tall guy glared, and Tony smirked.

“Yeah, pretty much, but listen, I’d rather be an entitled asshole than what, a burned out college student barely making ends meet being dragged here by hid girlfriend. No offense, you seem lovely,” he said to the woman standing beside tall guy.

“I am. And he’s gay.”

“Christine!” Stephen protested, shoving her and she laughed.

“What, he’s obviously into you, I was just doing you a favor.”

“I didn’t ask for your help, because you’re help is never as helpful as you think it is.” His glare focused back on Tony. “And that wasn’t an invitation.”

Tony tilted his head to one side, looking at tall guy up and down. “It should be. I’d accept it gladly.” He winked and tall guy glared, but Tony could see him blushing. Aggressive flirting was pretty much always the answer. “And I know how to show someone a good time.”

“I don’t really want to try and fit in a bed with your ego, thanks.”

“I like you.” Tony nodded, “You’re still not going in before us, but I like you. Maybe call me or something.” He pulled out a business card and handed it between two fingers to the girl standing beside him, knowing that tall guy wouldn’t take it.

He waved at tall guy flamboyantly and then turned to go into the house, dragging an exasperated Rhodey behind him. He was almost inside when something sharp and tiny hit him in the back of the head.

“What the hell?” He yelled, clutching the back of his head where his business card had just hit him. “Lovely woman, how could you betray me like this? I trusted you.” He looked over his shoulder at the two of them, and Christine was covering her mouth to giggle while Stephen just glared back at him.

“If I wanted your number, I would’ve asked for it.”

Tony was kind of taken aback. Sure, people hated Tony all the time, because of who he was, or because sometimes he could be an asshole, but tall guy with ridiculously beuatiful angry eyes was different somehow.

“Can I have yours then?” Tony asked, and it was Stephen’s turn to be taken aback.

“They’re soulmates, right? Like, they’re obviously soulmates?” Christine asked Rhodey who was just watching them both flabbergasted.

“Probably. You guys go ahead, we’ll wait.” He said pointedly, holding Tony’s arm and keeping him from protesting.

“How evil is it that I want them to go in together? It’d be a great bonding moment.” Christine grinned, and Rhodey raised an eyebrow at her.

“They’d kill each other.”

“Stephen doesn’t bite.” Christine waved a hand dismissively.

“I’m right here, you know. I haven’t gone anywhere,” he glared and she scoffed.

“Oh trust me, I know. The indignation rolling off of you is palpable. I can taste it it like sexual frustration in the back of my throat.”

Stephen gaped at her and Tony smirked, but Rhodey couldn’t just let this Stephen guy take all the blows. “I wouldn’t look so smug Tones, your thirst just as bad. You’d think he threw a love potion at you and not your own business card.”

“I was really getting that vibe from him.” Christine nodded, pushing Stephen towards the door. “You want to go into the haunted house so bad, do it with him. Now.”

“No, I’m not going to.”

“What, are you scared?” Tony asked, seeing a chance and jumping at it. He’d take Rhodey through on the next round, but he really, really, really wanted to screw with Stephen. And maybe just screw him. Maybe at the same time. That sounded great...

“I’m not scared of some cheesy animatronics and overpaid actors.”

Tony sucked in a breath, and Rhodey looked instantly worried. “Cheesy animatronics? No, these are top of the line animatronics that I designed myself.” The sharpness to Tony’s grin made even Christine, who didn’t know Tony from Adam, a little worried.

“Um, maybe-“

“Fine.” Stephen cut her off. “Let’s see how scary your little overcompensation project really is.”

“Please, lead the way.” Tony said, gesturing for Stephen to go inside.

“With pleasure.” He glared and went inside. Tony followed quickly behind and Christine, Rhodey and the ticket woman all looked at each other uneasily.

“This isn’t going to end well, is it?” Christine asked.

“Challenging Tony’s tech is like insulting his honor.” Rhodey confirmed and Christine nodded.

“Alright, well, now we wait.”

“Actually, I was going to go watch them from the control room. This is going to be too good to miss.”

“Can I come with?” She asked, not even caring about spoiling the surprise inside the house. She cared far more about what Stephen was doing with Tony freaking Stark.

“Be my guest.” Rhodey said, going back the way he and Tony had come.

——

Twenty five minutes later Stephen was sweating, Tony’s heart was racing, and they were both having trouble breathing as they filed out of the last room into what used to be the garage that had been converted into a cool down room of sorts complete with soft couches and snacks

“That haunted house is over the top.”

“I see that now. That was my first time going through it with the staff. They make it much scarier.” Tony took a bottle of water and an apple, handing the water to Stephen and taking a bite out of the deep red apple. It was a suggestion of Pepper’s to distract anyone who may be too traumatized. Tony had thought maybe it had been overkill, but now he understood her reasoning. He was a master of horror, apparently. Who knew?

“That room where the family was eating people, it smelled like blood...”

“Rust.” Tony corrected, “Similar, but not quite the same. The visual of the blood made your brain make the association though. Yeah.”

“And the... that woman she knew our names.”

“That... I didn’t do.” Tony said, taking another bite of his apple.

“I still think you’re overcompensating for something.”

“I’m trying to fill the hole in my heart with horrifying imagery, you caught me.” Tony smiled, but it was shaky at best.

“Well, you’re doing a damn good job.”

“Yeah, I know. Maybe too good.”

“Definitely too good.” Stephen pulled out a pen, “If you ever wanna talk about that,” he grabbed Tony’s wrist and wrote his number on Tony’s arm. He was attractive, creative and intelligent, and he kept up with Stephen like only Christine ever seemed to, and he wasn’t a straight woman, so... He was pretty sure he was making the right choice. He looked up at Tony between his eyelashes as he finished, “this is my number.”

Tony breathed in evenly to hide the fact that he wanted to screech. “Yeah, I’ll do that.” He said, and Stephen nodded, smiling and then he left. Tony stared down at his wrist, almost not believing what he was seeing, but the elegant scrawl had to belong to the med student, and unless it was a fake number... Tony sighed a little because he was happy and no one was watching. Maybe making a haunted house hadn’t been stupidest thing he’d ever done. Maybe it had served a very important purpose in his life after all. Take that Pepper.

——

Stephen was smiling tentatively as he approached Christine at the front of the house. “Well that looks like a good sign,” she said, “I can’t remember the last time I saw your smile when it wasn’t related to showing someone up.”

“Who says I didn’t show him up?” Stephen asked, immediately defensive, and Christine chuckled.

“That is not your ‘I just showed someone up’ look. Tell me what happened.” She demanded, and Stephen shook his head, looking at her and then at the line, squinting at it, “Weren’t you supposed to be inside already?”

“I wanted to see how it went!” Her voice was just a bit too strained for Stephen to believe her.

“Where’s that guy, the one who was with Tony.”

“He wen’t to meet him in the staging room. Said that was probably where he’d go when he came out.”

Stephen looked at her suspiciously. “What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

He glared at her until she finally sighed, looking down at her feet. “Okay, we went to the control room to watch you guys go through. No, don’t look like that! You guys were so cute!”

“You spied on me.”

“It wasn’t spy... It was just... creative intervention.”

“You told them my name!”

She bit her lower lip, “Yeah, I did.”

“You’re a piece of work.”

“You have him your number.”

“This, this is spying.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Stop being so-“

His phone pinged and she sqeaked, covering her mouth with her hand. “Is it him? It’s him isn’t it! I bet it’s him.”

“Shut up, it’s not...”

It was Tony.

Unknown number: Hey, it’s Tony. I kind of can’t shake this stupid house. Want to go get a coffee or something? My treat.

Stephen stared down at his phone for a second, giving Christine plenty of time to peer over his shoulder to look at the text.

“Say yes.” She whispered, and Stephen... did.

Stephen: Yeah sure, you know May’s?

Unknown Number: Hell yeah I know May’s it’s only the best coffee on the east coast. You’ve got good taste.

Stephen: I’m aware.

Unknown number: Are you still at the house? I can drive us down there.

Stephen: Yeah, that works. See you in a few?

Unknown number: Oh, you’ll see me alright

Stephen sighed, exasperated, but he couldn’t hide the tiny smile from Christine, who was jumping up and down on the porch of the ridiculously large house. “I told you you were soul mates!”

“Shut up, Christine.”

“I’m telling this story at your wedding.”

[ayearofpike]

The Last Vampire 5: Evil Thirst

Pocket Books, 1996 179 pages, 18 chapters ISBN 0-671-55050-0 LOC: CPB Box no. 654 vol. 9 OCLC: 34952388 Released June 4, 1996 (per B&N)

Sita has not heard from her new friend and her baby, and is worried that her daughter might have already carried out her evil scheme. There is a way she can find out, though: a local anthropologist claims to have a document written by a teacher in ancient Egypt that foretold the next coming of a Christ figure, to be born on the day that Sita’s friend had her baby. It adds fuel to the fire that this might be for real when Sita realizes the teacher was her friend, back when she first left India, and Sita knows of her abilities. Maybe together, Sita and the group that has formed around this ancient text can save the baby. Or maybe not.

For what should have been a straight-up  sequel, this book certainly throws in a new story all of a sudden. We’re following Kalika, we’re wondering what’s going to happen to this immaculate conception baby, and now there’s Egyptians. As per usual, it seems that Pike can’t ever leave a thread of research unexplored in multiple books. We got the Egypt thing in The Visitor and The Lost Mind, so I guess it was just something he was learning about and excited to share.

I remember, at the time, being excited that these last three Sita books were coming out in such quick succession. Finally, I said to myself, he’s got a plan of where to take this story and will finish it up and get on with his other work. And TLV4 certainly lived up to that promise. But I got to the end of this one and thought: OK, that’s wrapped this up. Where could he possibly take it from here? (Answer: we’ll find out next time.) Unpopular opinion: I thought The Hunger Games could have been done (and stronger) in one book. So I wasn’t super thrilled when Pike all but closed the story here and BUT WAIT there’s one more coming this fall!

That’s not to say that this was a bad story, necessarily. We start with Sita and Seymour (who of course isn’t leaving her again) in line for a lecture on this ancient text, three months after the confrontation with Kalika on the pier. You might remember that Sita had told her friend to call in a month, so naturally she’s upset and anxious that she hasn’t heard from her. She hasn’t told Seymour how she brought him back to life — as far as he’s concerned, he passed out in the cold water and woke up in the mountains. But they go in to the lecture, pausing to meet the anthropologist’s adult son, who gives Sita a ladyboner for only the second time in recent memory. 

The lecture is a lot like stuff we’ve seen. The anthropologist (whose last name is Seter; this will be important later) talks a little bit about how he found the document and what it says in regards to a messiah, but mostly he answers questions. Sita has a couple of pointed questions about the calendar system and the gods mentioned in the text, which has her intended effect of getting Doc and Son to meet with her after the lecture. She says she wants to see the whole thing, and to convince them to let her into its presence she claims to have another document written by this ancient teacher. Of course there is no such thing; Sita didn’t even know this one existed, and she hung out with the teacher literally the whole time she was a teacher. But she’s still a vampire, and so she’s able to hypnotize the boys into believing her and letting her follow them to their facility in Palm Springs, where the scroll is kept.

There are like 20 True Believers at the place, and Sita’s been eavesdropping across the traffic and knows they have weapons to protect the Next Coming from the Dark Mother. She also knows they are suspicious of her, so she tries not to alarm them. Though she does touch a five-thousand-year-old papyrus scroll with her bare hands while she reads her teacher’s handwriting. Yes, it looks real. She promises to show them her imaginary scroll later, then goes out to the desert and meditates on what she saw. This allows for a nifty device where Sita can remember how she met her teacher, some hundred years after she was turned, and how even before she started having visions and healing people Sita knew she was special.

She goes home in the morning and immediately the phone rings. Of course it’s Kalika, taunting Sita about her wild goose chase after this scroll and warning again that she won’t be stopped in her search for the baby. Sita picks up enough background audio to get an idea of where Kalika might be staying, and Seymour thinks maybe this was intentional. He saw Kalika open up B-Baller and wants to get the fuck out, but Sita knows that this might be an opportunity to get rid of her, if she can get the True Believer Militia to take her out. To get Seymour on board, she finally tells him the truth of his death and rebirth. But before they call in the heavy artillery, they have to find Kalika, so they track down buildings that match Sita’s audio clues and find Kalika living in the first one they check. Lucky? Or on purpose?

Sita and Seymour take off for San Francisco to corner Doc and Son after another lecture, with articles that show the danger of the Dark Mother. OK, so a lot of them are murders caused by Eddie, and there’s also the Matrix/Blade chase and the nuclear explosion. The only thing she has in her file that Kalika actually did is a story about a dead b-baller who had his throat ripped apart. Still, it’s enough for Doc and Son to believe that there’s a dangerous force in Los Angeles and they’d better try to take it out. They send a strike force into Kalika’s apartment, twenty people with assault rifles and body armor, in a pincer formation through the door and both balconies, but she murders them like so many ants. Sita races over to try and stop the carnage, but Kalika hits her with a still-dying body and chucks her off the eighteenth-story balcony into the pool, because Pike.

By the time she gets back to the observation window, it’s too late. Kalika has killed the snipers posted there, and basically made Doc shit his pants and give up everything about the ancient Egyptian document. (Lucky for Son, he wasn’t in the room.) They blast back to the True Believer facility, and sure enough the basement is a wreck and there are scraps of parchment everywhere. Sita reads about the coming strife in the early months of the Next Coming and where he’ll encounter it, about war between worshippers of Set and worshippers of Isis, and on a separate piece of papyrus (of a different texture) about the coming of the Dark Mother, Kali Ma. So everything she understands is true.

But she still doesn’t understand where this document came from. She meditates on her relationship with the teacher some more, and remembers how she didn’t cast Sita out upon discovering her vampiric nature. She thinks about how the teacher slowly turned into a miracle healer, with herbal remedies and some kind of auric repair service, before being discovered by the region’s queen and being asked to interpret a dream. The teacher interprets it to the queen’s satisfaction (and her high priest’s consternation) and is then kept on to work in the palace. Surely there will be no conflict of interest.

Sita next finds herself in B-Baller’s mom’s house again, where she learns that he was diagnosed with end-stage leukemia and given three months to live. New information that might change how she views her daughter’s nature. She still doesn’t know where to look for the next step, though, so she decides to check back at the ice-cream truck where she found Book 4′s deus ex machina, just in case there’s another one. And sure enough, the homeless dude is there, and he wants to play blackjack, which gives Sita just enough clues to go along with the ancient document and realize: New Friend and Baby are at Lake Tahoe. Yes, somehow this ancient Egyptian was able to predict that there would be a casino there, where you could play blackjack, and the storage and dealing device they’d use to hold cards at the tables would be called a “shoe.” Shhh, just go with it.

We get another flashback chapter, where Sita tells us about the queen going whole-hog in reversing the state religion from Set-worship to Isis-worship (as alluded to in the document), and Sita having to protect her teacher friend from countless assassination attempts. They happen as the high priest of Set is a master of Seedling, forcing others to do his will, and his will is to have minions go kill the usurper. (Which ... I fuckin’ told you, this is Cold One II.) This ultimately leads to Sita facing off against the high priest out in the desert. She feels like, hey, no sweat, I’ve been a vampire at least as long as Edward Cullen, I can take this dude. But what she didn’t realize is that the high priest has invoked an ancient lizard through the use of mind-melding and identical twins (which, like ... you know) and is stronger than she realizes. Plus he has power over the elements. He melts her sword, stabs her with a poisoned dagger, and manipulates the sand to lock around her limbs, then leaves her in the desert to be eaten by flies while he returns to town and takes over. At high noon, sure enough, there’s a massive earthquake that knocks Sita free of her bonds, and when she gets back to town ... there is no town. There’s just a hole. So she figured the high priest lost control and ended up killing everyone, including himself.

The remaining four Freedom Fighters drive to Tahoe and quickly triangulate on the house where New Friend is hiding. But they’re too late — Kalika has been there, and grabbed the baby, and is boating out across the lake with him. Sita manages to sink the boat, but Kalika and the baby make it to an island. She swims out there and corners them, but before she can make Kalika do anything Doc’s Son arrives to help. Or does he? Quick as anything he’s got a knife to Sita’s throat ... a knife that looks oddly familiar. 

Remember the last name and how I said it would be important? Seter. Set-er. Set worshipper. Now, I’ve left out the part about how this dude was adopted by Doc as an older teenager, which might throw a wrench into the foreshadowing of the name. Like, would a high school senior really change his name even if he was taken in by a caring old man? I’m not sure I’m all the way on board with this, even if it was needed to make him seem more connected to the cause by giving him the same name up front.

So he takes Sita’s gun and blasts the unholy fuck out of Kalika, then cuts Sita’s throat with the poisoned dagger and stabs it into her back, and then he boats off with the baby, who only now starts crying. Sita figures it’s all over, she misread the scroll and now humanity is totally fucked. Only Kalika works her way over to Sita and feeds her the blood pouring from her exposed heart, giving enough to heal her mother before she dies. When Sita makes it back to shore, she finds Doc dying of heart failure, unable to believe that his adopted son would have betrayed him so hard to the point of having a heart attack. She also finds Seymour bleeding out from a shotgun blast to the stomach. (I really don’t know if Pike knows how a shotgun works, if he thinks you can shoot one nine or ten times without reloading.) There’s no more Jeebus Baby blood, so she has to turn him. And that’s the last we hear from Seymour in this book.

Sita has more important things to do, like finding Jeebus Baby and Lizard Priest. And she thinks she knows where they’ll be: at the place where New Friend had relations with a giant blue star. She starts thinking about New Friend, which makes the star show up, and once more Sita is floating as a transparent ghost vampire or whatever the hell. She spots Lizard Priest below, and he’s waiting for someone: a spaceship full of lizards that is made of some kind of ethereal stuff. Sita realizes that her only chance is to go into the spaceship and possess one of the lizard aliens. She’s in the strongest and ugliest one when the ship lands and the aliens start taunting the baby. But Sita forces the alien to look into the baby’s eyes, and the mesmer of the baby protects her from being subjugated by Seedling, and she grabs the lizard’s knife and stabs Lizard Priest in the eye. And suddenly the spectral aliens disappear, and Sita has Lizard Priest’s knife embedded in his eye. She does the other one and grabs the baby, and then slits his throat for good measure. There’s a whoosh as the spectral aliens take off, and Sita and the baby start back to the car.

And that’s the end of The Last Vampire 5: Evil Thirst! So you see what I mean by ending the story? Sure, they have to drive back to Lake Tahoe or whatever and return the baby to his mom, and Seymour’s a vampire now at long last, but ... is any of it necessary? Is it even germane to the part of the story that will come next? I honestly don’t remember, but I think probably not? We’ll find out next time, as the Pocket editions of the Sita stories come to a close.

[renegade-diamonds]

😥poor White! Poor Pink! D: will they get their happy ending???

I’m super invested in this prompt now, so it gets another continuation. I’ll work on some others that caught my eye tomorrow. Might finally post something on my nsfw blog too for all you sinners out there.

But anyway hope you all enjoy this! I love the positive reaction it’s been getting, I’m so glad you like this little idea I had :D

“I don’t think this is a good idea Yellow,” Blue Diamond walked briskly alongside her fellow ruler. “Even if the test runs went well, we still don’t know if there could be any long term effects.”

“All the warped subjects reported regaining anywhere from seventy-five to one hundred percent of their memories back following the procedure,” Yellow continued. “White cannot remember anything Blue. If we are to ever regain the diamond we knew, the procedure must be performed on her.”

“And what happens if something goes wrong?” Blue questioned pleadingly, “It’s dangerous Yellow. If the peridot doesn’t follow the exact measurements, it could make her worse!” She stopped walking and grabbed Yellow’s arm, bringing the two reigning diamonds to a stop, “No other gem has ever been warped to this extent. By all accounts, the explosion should have shattered her.” Blue looked imploringly at her, “Can’t we just be glad White’s still in one piece and move on from there!?”

“And what happens then Blue!?” Yellow shook her head and pulled the two of them into a side room, not wanting lower gems to overhear their conversation, “She’s been fixed for nearly three months now, and not one sign of the gem we knew is in there!” The golden matriarch gestured in the direction of White’s chambers, “Do you not understand how bad it was when my flagship located her!? I found her clinging to an asteroid- almost shattered and unable to move, talk, or even hear! For stars sake Blue, her gemstone wasn’t even strong enough to materialize a full outfit, and her form was constantly destabilizing.”

“Then isn’t that more reason to appreciate the fact that she’s ok!?” The solemn diamond responded, still not convinced of the need for such a risky procedure, “If something goes wrong, we might lose her forever. All the test subjects were quartz types.” Blue clasped her hands together anxiously, “Their gems are naturally more flexible when it comes to heat. Ours is not.”

“Look Blue,” Yellow placed her hands on her partner’s shoulders. “I know you’re worried about White, but she already agreed to go through with the procedure.” She sighed and hung her head, “I know you’re scared about something happening to her, but there’s nothing else to be done. White will never be the same if we don’t do this.”

“Fine,” Blue grudgingly agreed. “Just promise me everything will be done to ensure nothing happens. I want every possible precaution taken.”

“Of course sweetheart,” Yellow leaned forward and to meet Blue’s lips in a tender kiss, before pulling away. “Not let’s get out of this room before we start another rumor.”

With a small chuckle, Blue nodded her head and followed after her lover, the two of them quickly exiting the room.

~~~

“My diamond,” Pink looked down at the gem as it addressed her. “White Diamond’s room has been prepared for the procedure. Yellow Diamond’s specialists have everything set up on their side as well. We are ready to begin.”

Pink nodded her assent and dismissed the gem. She looked over to the side where White was seated on the beach, the pale diamond content to let the waves lap at her feet.

With a groan, the magenta colored diamond climbed to her feet and approached White, “It’s time.”

White grinned from where she sat, before carefully rising and turning in Pink’s general direction, “Then I suppose it’s not wise to keep them waiting.”

Her unseeing eyes glimmered in the sunlight, and Pink felt her heart clench at the sight.

The past three months had been harder than the diamond had ever imagined. Ever since her resurrection, the anger and bitterness she’d felt towards White seemed to be the only emotions she could register. Any love or fondness was quickly beat down and pushed to the back of her mind. She was stubborn and refused to change her mindset.

And then White’s Pearl, screaming and crying, had appeared outside the Crystal Gem Temple, and suddenly Pink was faced with the fact that she might never see White again.

But now here she was, so close yet so far. Some part of Pink wondered if this was the universe's’ way of enacting its karma on her.

“Will you stay with me until we get to the room?” White asked, following as Pink took her hand and guided her back to the base.

“Of course,” Pink assured, squeezing the hand she held fondly.

“Good,” White laughed nervously. “I’m a little anxious. Yellow says they’re going to super heat my gemstone. It’s supposed to be painful.”

“You’re strong and resilient,” Pink said. “If anyone could handle it, I’m sure it’s you.”

“Well it’s good to know you have faith in me,” White smiled.

Pink gulped down her guilt, knowing she didn’t deserve that smile, and merely chuckled uneasily, “Always.”

They entered the base, gems and the few humans moving to the side to make way for the two diamonds as they passed.

White kept a steady grip on Pink’s hand, depending on it to guide her.

Yellow was waiting outside the chambers, “Pink. White. Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” White remarked, her hand transferred to Yellow as the golden diamond directed the pale leader to the gems waiting to lead her inside.

Once she was inside the room, Pink grabbed Yellow’s arm- fingers digging into the limb, “Tell me you’ll personally oversee everything about the procedure.”

“Of course I will,” Yellow muttered. “Did you really think I would entrust something of this magnitude to someone else.”

“No,” Pink sighed angrily. “I just want to make sure everything is perfect. Nothing can go wrong.”

“It will be fine,” Yellow took a long hard look at the younger diamond. “We’ve accounted for everything that can go wrong. It’s all covered.”

Pink chewed on her lip and released her grip on the golden arm, “Good.”

Yellow nodded, “This shouldn’t take more than a few hours, probably three. I’ll have to poof White before they can began heat-treating her gem. After that they’ll start restoring its original dimensions.”

“You’re going to do it?” Pink blinked, “They can’t just destabilize her?”

“It would take an enormous amount of energy to power a destabilizer strong enough to poof a diamond,” Yellow rubbed her chin. “It’d be easier to use my ability. And it’d be less pain for her too.”

“Fine, fine,” Pink grabbed Yellow by the shoulder, moving so she could talk right into her ear. “Take care of her.”

“You know I will.”

~~~

The hours felt like days to Pink.

Blue watched as the youngest ruler of Homeworld stomped back and forth across the central command room, “Pacing isn’t going to make the procedure go any faster.”

“I don’t care,” Pink grumbled unhappily. “It’s been five hours. Yellow said it shouldn’t take more than three. What’s the issue?”

“The damage from the warp is probably more extensive than first realized,” Blue soothed. “They haven’t called an alarm. It’s probably just taking the specialists a little bit longer than estimated.”

“Ugh,” Pink dragged herself over to her chair, slumping into it with a huff. “If you say so.”

To try and get Pink’s mind off the procedure, Blue spoke with her fellow matriarch about a wide-range of topics- keeping the other from working herself up into a bundle of nerves once more.

After another hour, the main doors to the command room opened, and both gems stood from their seats as Yellow Diamond walked in, “We’re finished with the procedure.”

“Is White ok!?” Pink immediately jumped into interrogation mode, “Was the procedure successful!? Are her memories back!?”

“She hasn’t reformed yet,” Yellow said. “By all accounts, her gem was restored to its original dimensions. However, we won’t know whether or not it worked until White reforms.”

“And how long will that tak-”

Alarms blarred throughout the base, silencing Pink’s question.

“My Diamonds!”

The three leaders turned as a gem under Yellow’s command came running into the room, “My Diamonds! There’s been a complication!”

“What complication!?” Pink demanded, “What’s going on!?”

“It’s White Diamond, your radiance!” The gem, a high-ranking Peridot, reported. “She reformed sooner than estimated. We went to alert you, but she lashed out and poofed most of the specialists! Before we could regain our footing she blasted through the windows and left!”

“Where is she now!?” Yellow snapped.

“She was last seen heading in a north-west direction from the west wing,” the Peridot answered.

“Oh dear,” Blue ran a hand over her face. “This isn’t good.”

Yellow huffed and turned to the Peridot, “Send out scouting parties! I want every available gem looking! Send a notice to the Crystal Gems and any nearby human settlements. I want her found yesterday!”

“Right away my diamond!” The Peridot saluted and hurried from the room, sending out commands as she ran.

“I’m going,” Pink decided, already moving towards the exit.

“Pink no,” Yellow promptly shut down that statement. “We don’t know what’s going through White’s head right now. She might react violently to your presence. It’s safer for you to keep your distance and stay here.”

“Keeping my distance is what got White hurt in the first place!” Pink snapped. “I won’t make the same mistake twice!”

Blue put a hand on Yellow’s shoulder, “Pink knows White better than anyone. If she wants to look, let her. She’ll probably find White before any of the scouts do.”

Yellow pursed her lips, obviously not liking the idea. After a moment of silence she relented, “If you believe you can find her, then go.”

“I will find her,” Pink promised, exiting the control room with determination in her stride, “I swear it.”

[burndownthehousetonight]

((Holy HELL, does a lot happen in this one! Like I wasn’t even expecting some of this stuff to happen, this is kinda soap opera I always want to write! And of course, @jack-rabbot‘s always nice to see getting some rightful vengeance. I’m super jazzed about this, and the upcoming bits :D))

Emergency visits from Jack had gotten less frequent as time went on. But even almost half a year later, things weren't going to be quietly glossed over.

It was the same as it always was, ever since Manic started staying in Scourge’s kingdom. A walk to the inner castle courtyard to sit near some climbing flowers, try and recover in the fresh air, drown out the trauma to the sound of the fountain. Maybe it was a gloomy day, but not storming like in the Rabbot kingdom, and the chill fit Jack’s mood perfectly. There was no hiding Manic's condition now, and it would only be three more months before this baby was born. The hard to ignore bump almost felt like a reassurance, that great things were just around the corner. Lord knows the king needed something like that.

"And lightning hit the tree right then? Right when you were in the embassy..." Even if he wasn't familiar with trauma, the thought of Jack hearing something explode while he was THERE was gut-wrenching. "They said you were curled up for an hour... You're walking now, that's good! How- you feeling any better, man?"

There wasn’t really much need for emergency visits to Manic now, he was safe and in good hands. The only real cases when Jack visited Manic in an emergency was in case Manic called for him to come immediately or if something had happened to Jack, and this visit was the latter. After the heavy storm the occurred in his kingdom the rabbit was soon off to be with Manic and once the usual greetings and formalities were out the way Jack just stayed with his lover still a little shaken by what had happened in his kingdom.

It was a bit embarrassing for the king that Manic knew of his reaction to the incident, but unfortunately it was true, just hearing the lightning strike the tree and resulting boom did set off the rabbit’s nerves and he locked himself in his room for said hour until the storm calmed down a little. Jack gulped quietly as he nodded his head to Manic’s questions, he didn’t want to talk about it too much but he did tell Manic what happened at least.

“Y-yeah, ah wish they didn’t say that. Y-yeah ah’ll be fine thank yeh Manic.” Jack replied staying close to Manic and not leaving his side as he was still shaking a little showing just how badly the storm had affected him. The worst of the storm was past, and they were far away from wherever it was going to strike next. They had safety, just no answers. "I can't believe we ain't made progress." Was all Manic said. All leads had lead to nothing, all visitors accounted for. And the only thing without a worldly explanation were those few raspy words Jack said he'd heard, right before the blast left him unconscious; "It is your time... enter, Jack, your hell awaits." So why was he still here? "Hey... you hear they found one of those paintings of Fiona?" Changing the topic was the best Manic could do, hoping that some good news might help, no matter how irrelevant. "Fao and Hurricane both have paintings in their rooms. I think you made them both real, real happy, man." Jack was slightly relieved the storm was gone, and that they were both safe although the fact they had no answers after trying to find some after so long did make the rabbit anxious. Barely any clues, no witnesses, even those few words didn’t help at all. If Jack was meant for hell then why was he still there? Was his hell, to be to take over his kingdom with all the problems that came with it with very little preparation or confidence to do so?

If so then it certainly felt like hell to start with. Jack listened to Manic speak as his lover tried to change the subject. It was a good thing that they found another portrait of Fiona, and he was glad he could help make the children happy. Even though they weren’t his he was glad things were going well for them. “Ah see, that’s good to hear, ah’m glad they’re both happy.” "Yeah, they're loving their new rooms. Though Trenchy and Clash are getting all lonely since they aren't sleeping in the same room as 'em anymore, so guess who's been waking up to 'em crying for like a month?" He gave a cheesy thumbs up and a grin. As annoying as it could be, he was at least taking it all lightly. Lightly... he had to say something, keep the mood light still, see if that would help Jack. "Speaking of kids... I tried making a list of baby names." His hands searched his pockets for a crumpled list as he rattled off, "Fao wanted to make a few suggestions, so uh... don't be too surprised. Also, Scourge wanted to throw on some-" His hands emerged from his pockets, decidedly list free. "Wait- Wait, right, King Asshole has it." In this castle, not treason and just a common nickname even Scourge would use. "You wanna see what horrible, awful, like just the worst terrible awful names he'd come up with?" “Ah see, that’s good, ah’m glad they’re enjoying their rooms. Oh dear, are yeh getting enough sleep Manic? Have yeh been taking it easy?” Jack asked, although that kind of thing was expected Jack was now starting to worry about Manic again hearing about his lover’s lack of sleep and how that wouldn’t be good for him considering how close their own child was from being born.

Jack listened to Manic speak as he talked about baby names and the help he got with making a list for them. If he wasn’t sure busy with everything that had been happening then he may have tried to help come up with names as well but he’d probably wouldn’t be much help as this was all still too new for the rabbit. Jack watched Manic pull out his hands without the list and gulped quietly at the comment, it might’ve been a usual nickname for King Scourge but Jack didn’t know that, and even if he did he wouldn’t use it. "O-okay, ah guess so, are yeh okay getting there Manic?” Jack asked still concerned over Manic as he looked at his lover as he spoke. He seemed to be holding up remarkably well for the size of the bump at that stage. All he did was smile, laugh, and pat Jack on the back. "I'm stonger than I look, man. I'm more scared for YOU right now." All a roundabout way to give him a reason to wrap one arm around Jack's waist, playing it up for comfort but wanting it for support. "Me and the dude've been walking a lot, we're doing fine. Let's head in and see if we can get that list." Finding Scourge was usually easier said than done, but hearing him laugh after entering the private wing sure helped the search! They were immediately down that hallway with the rose doors again, and into a room decked in bright red clothes and furniture, although the nice furniture wasn't what made the room feel so pleasant in that moment. Scourge was actually sitting with Hurricane and Faolán in a window nook. Maybe it was a joking kids book, but he was still... reading to them. Reading and laughing at his kid's jokes. He would of course slam the book shut the moment the guests walked in, but they saw what they saw. Fao ran up faster than Hurricane did, but both seemed excited. "JACK!" The little boy yelled out for the guest, arms extended to jump into a hug. "A-ah see, just try and be careful okay?” Jack said as he wrapped an arm around his lover and did his best to support Manic the best he could. It took them a little while to find Scourge but once they did it was quite a surprise for Jack to see the other king like this, to see Scourge not as a king, not as an opposing ruler of a kingdom his own was at odds with but as a father spending time with children and bonding with them made quite a sweet scene in the rabbit’s eyes.

Once Scourge had slammed the book shut and the children ran up to Jack, the rabbit let Manic go wherever he wanted before Fao into his arms gently and moved to hold Hurricane as well as the rabbit hugged both children softly in his arms. “Hello Fao, hello Hurricane, how are yeh? Have yeh both been good while ah was gone?” The rabbit asked as he looked at the children as he spoke. "Yes, sir." Hurricane was well mannered as always, but that didn't mean a little pure happiness wouldn't leak through. Faolán wasn't so concerned with manners. "I ate a bug yesterday!" "Jack." Scourge's way of saying hello and interrupting his son's comment. "Didn't tell me you were coming over." "It was an emergency, man, he's just trying to recover here." The prince had sat down in an armchair near the door, happy to give his legs the break. "Hey, uh, you got that-" "Knock before coming in next time." "Hey, we didn't see nothing, you were just reading-" While the two exchanged words and the children seemed happy to just be near their friend, Jack had time to look at the room. More importantly, the bed, with a tall painting hanging over the center of the headboard. A fox woman, bright red, decorated in fine silks and jewels in striking reds and golds. Even without knowing her, a woman to be feared. That nose, that face shape, this was unmistakably the mother of Faolán. Her name wasn't carved anywhere in the frame, but Jack knew who this woman had to be. "That’s good to hear hurricane. Ah see, just be careful which ones yeh eat, some of them can be bad for yeh.” Jack spoke to the children before Scourge spoke to the rabbit as Manic told the other hedgehog why the rabbit was there.

“Y-yeah, sorry for not telling yeh ah just needed a few quiet moments here.” Jack listened to the two hedgehogs speak to each other while staying close to the children while he looked around the room, it looked quite nice to be in and when he saw the painting he had a guess of who it would be.

Seeing the red vixen in the painting Jack didn’t dare say a word while Scourge was there, knowing how last time she was mentioned in front of him turned out. For now he stayed quiet as the two other royals spoke while the rabbit stayed with and entertained the children as things seemed okay for a few good moments. "Alright, so you know that list of baby names you wanted to see? You still got that, man, Jack wants to see it." Scourge searched his pockets. And again. And once more. "Shit, must've lost it somewhere..." The pregnant royal wasn't disappointed in the slightest. "Alright, well... alright, what was I thinking?" He said, dropping the point immediately and going back to sit with Jack and the children. "Alright, so we've always got good music-y names. Y'know, Melody, Fender, Crash, Ballad, right? I dunno, I'd want my kid to be successful, maybe we could give em some kind of rich-sounding name? So like, Onyx or Godiva or summat, or Trillion-" "Ooh, ooh!" Faolán's pointed ears peaked. "Name it- Name it Princess! Then it would be a princess and a princess!" "Noooo, name it something cool!" Hurricane stomped her paws in protest, clearly invested. "Like Spike! Like Explosion!" The two children rattled off name after rather terrible name as the royal couple 'considered' the names. Scourge just glowered from a distance, not getting involved in the little talk. Jack listened to Manic speak and watched Scourge check his pockets for a little while until he admitted he lost it. The rabbit was glad that Manic didn’t seem to be upset by this and went back to speaking to Jack as he listened to Manic tell him the names that he had come up with so far. "Those sound like really good names Manic.” Jack spoke himself after listening to the names Manic had thought of so far, and then turned to listen to the children come up with ideas of their own as they got invested into this.

This was the kind of thing Jack needed, to be with his beloved Manic and rest peacefully, he was happy that Fao and Hurricane were trying to help with adding different names. So far Jack was interested in one of the more musical names that manic had thought of but he would definitely keep the names that the children came up with in mind as they went on.

Jack hoped Scourge didn’t mind his sudden visit as much as his calm face said, if the rabbit could’ve sent a message beforehand he would but it was just so sudden he needed to get out and be somewhere else and thankfully at the moment this was perfect. And so they sat, coming up with more and more names and Manic dutifully listing them all down.  "Alright, y'all, we've got three pages of these babies." The pen was down, and various baby names scribbled down in Manic's sloppy scrawl were randomly scattered over every inch of paper. The children seemed to be running out of fuel for this specific project anyways. "Uh... Wow, this is more than I came up with before, guess we've got a ton of thinking to do." There were a few knocks to the door. Both children stood up and went into a refined posture as they saw an androgynous looking otter, primly dressed. "Ah... good afternoon," they said, not quite knowing who the rabbit king was. "Children, come along, recess is over." Scourge wanted to raise an objection to this, but the otter ignored his attempts to grab their attention, and as quickly as they arrived, the tutor was gone with both children in tow. The king's pissed off mood seemed to suffocate the chamber. "Uh... You got any name ideas, kingy?" Manic asked. Scourge said nothing, only huffing and sitting back on the window cushions. Jack wasn’t sure which name to chose from after all the ideas that had been brought up, still at least there was many to choose from instead of not having any ideas at all. Once Manic spoke and put the pen down it seemed things would quiet down a little.

Jack turned to look at the door as someone knocked and the children quickly stood up. Once the tutor came and went with the children in tow it was obvious, almost overwhelming for the rabbit to see how annoyed Scourge was now. Jack wasn’t quite sure if using Scourge’s nickname was a good idea when he was in this kind of mood but Manic knew what he was doing, at least that’s what Jack hoped anyway. Well, he didn't. Manic's pleading wasn't getting them an answer. Scourge just stood to put the book on top of a small shelf near the bed. He wasn't facing the bed before, and with the way he avoided looking at the portrait it was clear what one of his major complaints was. Whoops. And yet, his anger seemed more pointed at Manic than anything. Perhaps for interrupting his time with his kids? "We've got some papers we were gonna shoot back at your people, with the Dewlbridge-Moebius trading restrictions and the trans-Jugo railway repairs and crap." The dowdy terminology flowed naturally with his rough voice, like the contrast wasn't strange to him at all. Metal boots collided softly with elegant carpeting as he left for the door. "Come with me, might have that list on the desk or some shit..." "Maybe we can try getting him to chill while we walk?" Manic whispered. The king didn't seem to hear. Jack stayed quiet the whole time as Scourge got up and returned the book onto the shelf. It wasn’t hard to notice Scourge avoiding to look at the portrait donning the wall and all of this just made Jack feel worse as the situation didn’t look good for him or Manic as Scourge spoke to the rabbit.

Jack listened to the other king speak and slowly nodded his head as he agreed and quickly followed Scourge with Manic in tow as they made their way down the hall. As they walked, Jack listened to Manic whisper to him while they kept their distance from Scourge. Just how we’re they going to calm the normally quick to anger king down? The situation in the room they just left hit one or two sore spots for certain, it was going to be hard and Jack wasn’t sure how to go about it.

“H-how are we going to do that manic?” Jack asked whispering back as he stayed close to his lover while they followed Scourge but not too close so they could speak without him hearing them. "Don't overthink it. You're a nice dude, just... talk to him normally." The hand he was holding around Jack's waist for support was turning more into emotion support for the rabbit. "He ain't said anything outright, but I don't think he really blames you for nothing. Just talk." The more comfortable residential halls would soon pool into the imposing gothic halls most guests would only ever get to see of the castle. Silently, Manic stepped back to put space between the young king and himself, hoping to nudge things along. Scourge hadn't seemed to catch on to what their murmuring what about, reaching into his pockets for a key as they stood outside the formal office and staying silent.   “O-okay Manic.” The rabbit gulped quietly, as they made it to main gothic halls of the castle, once manic put some distance between himself and jack the young king made his way closer to scourge before speaking to the other king. “I-if ah may say yeh'r majasty, the design of yeh'r main castle is quite interesting, what made yeh choose gothic architecture for yeh'r castle?”

The rabbit asked at his poor attempt of small talk. While it was the first thing that came to mind he wasn’t lying when he said how interesting the gothic design was, he did wonder why Scourge chose this kind of architecture for everyone to see as Scourge checked his pockets for the key to his formal office. The question was so out of nowhere that Scourge balked. It was so strange it almost had to be genuine. "Castle's been here longer than my family," He mumbled, key not quite twisting around the lock right. "It looks cool and I don't care. Besides, it costs tons to change this stuff, and this place don't need fixing." The door opened, into a similarly harsh yet warm office. If nothing else, the question didn't seem to hurt, and Scourge was calm enough to pick up the papers he needed without any theatrics. "Besides, residential part got blown up and had to be rebuilt, don't gotta waste more of my money." He seemed done with his little speech, and Manic was still standing back to let the two speak. "Not all castle's gotta look all cute like yours." He chuckle for just a second, but it was something. “A-ah see.” Jack listened to Scourge speak after he asked that question to the other ruler. So from what he got from Scourge the castle has been standing longer than Scourge and his family had been there. Once they were in the office Jack looked around the room before looking at Scourge as he spoke once more.

“F-fair enough, it looks very nice yeh'r majesty.” The rabbit replied as Scourge made his last comment, did his castle look cute? His own castle was still standing after a long time and while a few repairs had to happen to the castle here and there it was still standing and somewhat in good shape. "You've got.. what, a rose garden? Fountains with fairy statues? Art nouveau?" The misidentified furniture style was said almost cruelly, trying to downplay actually vaguely knowing what that meant. "It's cute." Clearly not a compliment, but he was grinning. At least Jack was scoring a few points. This happiness would be gone soon, with Scourge back to his dower old self. "We want those signed in five days max." He said as the paperwork was handed over to Jack. He turned to look at Manic, going to say something snarky- Manic was gone. "You know where your boyfriend went?" He asked, annoyed and confused. “W-well we do have some gardens and the fountains don’t really have any statues.” The rabbit replied as Scourge spoke, at least the other king was in a slightly better mood now as he continued to speak. Jack gulped quietly as Scourge went back to his old mood and handed the rabbit the papers.

Jack nodded quietly as he looked over the papers to see what they said before Scourge noticed Manic was missing. Jack turned and looked around when the other king asked where Manic was. “A-ah’m not sure, ah guess manic just needed to rest and he wanted to leave us to settle this business.” Jack replied, he didn’t know where Manic had gone and was quickly starting to worry about him as he looked out the door from where he was. Scourge was more direct, leaving through the office door directly into the halls to look around. "Couldn't've gotten far..." In fact, he was being led down the hall by some kind of a nurse supporting Manic on his shoulder. He didn't look too pained, and a few loose worse could be caught by Jack's large ears. "...weak early contractions, nothing to worry about..." "...still painful..." "...just want to check your vitals quickly..." It didn't LOOK serious, at least, but Scourge was clearly not going to be happy with it. But his glower was more remorseful than before, the same deep bitterness not really present. Once Manic was finally out of sight, he would finally stop watching and turn back to Jack. "So what are your plans for this kid? When they finally get popped out, what are you gonna do with 'em?" Jack moved out of the way for Scourge as he walked out the door and into the hall as he spoke. Jack followed and hoped Manic was okay. After hearing the words said by Manic and the nurse he gulped quietly, was the child due soon? Was Manic going to be okay? Quite a few questions went through the rabbit’s mind as Manic soon went out of sight.

Jack gulped quietly as Scourge asked him that question, what was he going to do with the child? He didn’t know what he could do, he couldn’t take it with him back to his home or he could risk an uproar in his court and Manic couldn’t take it either for the same reason. Jack might be able to lie a little and say he adopted the child out of mercy for it and hope the court buys it.

But still, there were very little options Jack had for this situation and very few could really help his situation. “A-ah’m not sure, Ah’m just trying to think what we could do with the child, if I could take it ah would but who knows what kind of hell that would raise back home.” "Then bring it with you." He said it so casually, as though it was obvious. "Who cares what a bunch of assholes think? You're some king now. If you're letting the grand court of whatever the fuck tell you how to act, you ain't a king, you're a puppet. A hot, powerful, spineless puppet." Scourge the mighty, the dictator, the unstoppable, the thick-headed. Either a brave defender of his beliefs or a violent enforcer of his personal ethics code. His eyes subtly sized up the hall, ushering Jack into the room quietly when he deemed the hall empty. He had something planned, clearly. "Manic's sick of seein' you hate on yourself, and I'm with him." But he wasn't staring down the rabbit, instead walking away from him and towards a seemingly plain bookshelf crammed with law books. "You want change, you force it. You wanna be the prey or the hunter?" Did Scourge ever bother to listen to what he says? Bring the child with him? Of course Jack couldn’t take it back with him, things can’t be as easy as Scourge thinks it can be! Jack listened to the other king speak as he spoke his mind, a puppet? Of course he was a puppet, that’s all he ever was, he didn’t need Scourge reminding him of just how weak he really was.

Jack soon followed Scourge back inside his office as he spoke, he didn’t want manic worrying about him with everything that was happening and the child being so close now. The rabbit continued to listen as he watched the other ruler walk towards the bookshelves full of law books as he spoke, force change? Jack wasn’t that kind of person, he was never one to force others into doing what he wanted, he just couldn’t.

“A-ah can’t Scourge, ah can’t just force something to happen just because ah was the only one left alive to sit on the throne. Ah’m not yeh, Ah’m not Manic, ah can’t force others with sheer power like yeh can, ah can’t talk mah way out of problems like Manic, ah wasn’t even supposed to take the crown in the first place, and by all accounts ah probably still have a target on my head and ah don’t even know who caused that first attack in the first place.” "Cut the crap." Scourge's expression had turned sour, but he still didn't face Jack. He was pushing in the books on the bottom shelf deliberately, until a latch was heard and the case swung slightly forward. He rushed up to Jack, eyes full of desperate anger. "I don't deserve shit." He said bluntly. "Not the throne. But I'm here, and I'mma make the world better while I can. You wanna make the world good? They FORCE it to be good." The word force was punctuated by pushing Jack on the back, towards the case he was fiddling with. When the case was all the way back, there was a sturdy metal door with a hand scanner and a keypad. "In that room? I've got three of the Anarchy Beryl." Was he angry... or sad? He wasn't happy, but his frantic desperation didn't feel like his usual kind of anger. "Do you know what you could do with that power? No one'll stand in your way, you can do it! You can force the world not to fight you, force them to accept you! You can live however the hell you want!" At this point, his grip on Jack's arm was deathly tight, and his mouth even twitching into a sad smile from his intense emotions. "You can make it better for you, for that kid! For Manic!" Jack gulped quietly as he listened to Scourge speak, he wondered what the hedgehog was planning as he continued to have his back facing the rabbit as he messed with the books until finally he got the case open and pushed Jack towards it as he spoke. Once they got to the large metal door Jack couldn’t believe what he heard, what was Scourge doing? He wasn’t just about to give Jack the main source of his power was he? He couldn’t, Jack wouldn’t accept it after everything that happened he just couldn’t accept what Scourge was about to do.

“S-scourge, ah don’t know what Yeh’re thinking but ah can’t accept this, ah can’t take what Yeh’re about to give meh. Mah kingdom’s already taken enough from yeh, p-please, keep Yeh'r beryl. A-ah know we have some in mah kingdom, a-ah’ll think about what yeh said, a-are they even safe to use?” Jack asked as he winced a little from Scourge’s tight grip. It wouldn’t be a good idea to flat out refuse the idea in front of Scourge so the least Jack could do was entertain the idea and say that he could use the beryl back home if he wanted to. "Are they even safe to use?" Those words pierced through his mind, through his body. For those moments, Jack could see Scourge's mind melt at the thought, all confidence gone for just a few moments. This wasn't his moping or aggression, this was shattering emotionally. He stepped away from the case, defeated, and slowly swung it closed. "You're smart." He laughed, hollow and desperate. "Finny never even asked that. Fiona's the only one who ever asked... you would've hated her." Scourge didn't add more, walking past Jack and sitting in one of a few chairs near the unlit fireplace, motioning for Jack to sit. Jack stayed quiet as he stared at Scourge, he wasn’t sure what he just did at first until Scourge finally spoke and shut the case as they stepped away from it. It was only when Fiona was mentioned that it clicked for him, probably saying the same words she did would have some effect on the other ruler.

Jack followed Scourge and sat down when told next to the fireplace, he wasn’t sure what he could do now or even if he could do much else. He wanted to try and make things better for Manic and their child but he just couldn’t force others into doing what he told them, that just wasn’t him. He couldn’t, could he? Would that kind of power get the investigation going faster? Would he catch whoever was behind the attack faster with that power? There was one person who had to be familiar with that power, and he was about to start talking. "Anarchy's just chaos energy, but you can only use it if you're more... twisted." He started out of nowhere, grinning a little with those first two sentences. "And we are one twisted-ass royal family. Me, Fiona, all our court, don't gotta stoop to use it. And you know all that crap, Anarchy Beryl's kept real secure so no one uses it. You'd need hella work to get it. You'd need to know the royals, have 'em trust you, be a master thief..." Manic wasn't present, which may have been for the better for him. "Only had 'em for a year before... still don't know what happened." Scourge was furious, but a mild, cold fury seemingly aimed at nothing. One that shone dark through his gritted teeth but didn't explode. "That's when there was that raid, with your family and the Coolettes and all those people tryna steal them back. Only saved a few of 'em, most got nabbed." One hand reached absently for an ashtray and a cigarette that wasn't there. He was still choked up over whatever had happened specifically. "That wasn't 'structure failure' or whatever that Aleena bitch said it was. Someone used the energy to blow up the residential wing, and Fiona got... ..." He couldn't finish the sentence. When some sadness had subsided, his anger had returned. "We've got no fucking clue..." Jack listened to Scourge speak about the anarchy beryl and thought to himself as the other ruler spoke, he had to be twisted to use the beryl? Sure Jack was a little messed up inside after the attack, but not to that degree, so it looked like the beryl would be useless to him, unless he got Tail’s father to work on something that could go around that rule.

Jack continued to listened as Scourge went on. The rabbit’s ears lowered as the hedgehog spoke of the raid his family was apart of. Soon enough hearing what had really happened to Fiona Jack couldn’t help but feel guilty for the crimes his family committed.

“S-scourge, a-Ah’m so sorry. I-if there’s anything ah can do to even begin to make this up to yeh, a-ah want to make up for what mah family did to yeh.” He glowered at Jack, but didn't get angry, just eyeing him down. But what kind of glare was this? He was sizing up Jack's body, but it certainly wasn't the entertained lustful looks he'd given the innocent rabbit. It wasn't those pissed stared he'd thrown right back at Manic. Rightfully, there were enough thoughts in his headd that is was hard to discern anything. "You didn't kill her." Scourge said. In his own mind, there was one person to blame, but they weren't important right then and there. "Don't try getting on your knees, I'm sick of you ALWAYS submitting. You wanna make it up? Then be a goddamn KING. Praise all the gays and lesbs and all the fucks people love to hate. Don't be a pretty delicate little flower," he said, affecting a haughty tone, "be a man. And don't pussyfoot around when someone you know blows up a castle. Be real." No, there was no lust in his eyes for once, and his hold on Jack's vest was serious, almost like he was going to get punched. "I wanna see their 'perfect view of society' die. An' step one's forcing them to like fags. Got it?" Jack shivered a little under Scourge’s glare, he wasn’t sure what Scourge was thinking until the other royal spoke. He was slightly relived thatSscourge didn’t blame him for Fiona but gulped quietly as he listened to the hedgehog speak, so Scourge wanted Jack to try and make his kingdom accept those that were hated? How was he supposed to do that? He had enough problems as it was without Scourge adding to the list.

Still it wasn’t like Jack could say no, what choice did he have? He listened to Scourge finish speaking before nodding to the other ruler as he spoke. “O-okay, a-ah’ll do what ah can.” Jack answered the hedgehog, still shivering a little in his grip as it tightened on the rabbit’s vest. His grip loosened slowly. He heard what he wanted to hear... sort of. But there was still that feeling Jack was still submitting to any resistance. He wasn't sad, but clearly disappointed. Of course it was a lot to put on him, getting the majority of the population to change their worldviews? But maybe he could do something, just something to help. "And don't let anyone control you back there. That's my job." Despite the flirting hand holding his chin, that voice was deathly serious. He'd immediately withdraw when the door creaked open, only to see Manic entering with a glass of water in hand. "Uh... I interrupting anything?" Jack sighed quietly in relief as he felt Scourge’s grip losen a little, Jack wasn’t sure how he was going to do what Scourge asked him, it was a very touchy subject and not many supported it that he knew of. Jack blushed faintly feeling the hand under his chin but gulped at the tone of voice Scourge used.

Jack quickly looked at the door as it opened to see Manic in the doorway, Jack was glad Manic looked okay as he moved to the prince speaking. “N-no, everything’s okay here, how are yeh feeling Manic? Are yeh okay?” "Yeah, I'm fine, just normal pregnancy stuff. That doctor guy gave me some pills and says not to do any hard exercise..." No, Manic's coming exercise was going to be far more logical than emotional. Quills were temporarily tinted to hide his identity, his face made up to look more feminine. After all, there was no hiding that baby bump, he may as well act like a woman for the sake of a little theft. He had his own debts to pay with Scourge, and as someone who was well versed in the Rabbot castle, Manic was the perfect person to send out to scope out their anarchy beryl. Not steal it, just make sure it truly was there, make sure it was real. Guards were no problem to sneak around. No one would think anything of putting in lock combinations in front of a prince, and he was in quickly. Hell, cracking the beryl vault wasn't that hard for him either, and he was quickly on his way to... ...? Manic was baffled, and a thorough search of the small chamber didn't turn up anything. The Rabbot kingdom's two anarchy beryl were gone. Jack had no idea what Manic was doing. If he knew his lover was in his castle, he probably wouldn’t have done what he was about to do, he knew he had to try and make some change but as he was now there was no way that was happening. He had a thought and although he was worried of what Manic would think of him, he felt like he had no choice.

After sending his most elite guard to collect the beryl and bring it to the most private parts of his castle, parts that he hoped that only he and a select few knew about, not even the council knew what was about to happen, once he had his guard with the beryl he called the one responsible for his metallic limbs, Tail’s father to go over his plan.

“So, that’s mah thoughts. Unfortunately as things are going nothing is being done and the attacker could strike again any time, as much as ah’d hate to say it, ah need the anarchy beryl. The problem is yeh need to be as twisted as they are to use them. Ah know, well at least ah think ah’m not able to use them normally, but is there any way yeh can make meh an arm that harness’s the Beryl’s power?” Amandeus examined the stones closely. Unlike the clean, geometric cuts of standard Chaos gemstones, these were askew, covered in crude geometric cuts that formed shapeless structures. In the windowless chamber, the faint violet and magenta glows were some of the only light. "Learning to 'trick' a beryl into working for someone innocent would take time." He said simply. "But a gemstone still produces some chaos energy. We would need time to create a full-power prototype." 'We' in this case was Amandeus and who was usually the true brains behind the royal mechanist's inventions - his eight year old child, drawing vague figures of one of the gems onto an oversized piece of grid paper. "But he already has plans going for a more powerful version of your current limbs, my liege." "Is it safe?" Tails looked up at his king, concerned eyes full of innocent wonder. Jack stared at the stones as Amadeus spoke, he hoped that what they planned to do could work but from what he was hearing he wasn’t sure if they had the time. Still once Amadeus finished speaking he spoke himself as he turned away from the stones. “Ah see, thank yeh, how much time do yeh think yeh would need?” Jack asked as he looked at the royal machinist. He knew he was asking for quite a bit and while he didn’t want to put too much pressure on the two he needed something that could help him quickly if possible.

Once Tails asked if it was safe, Jack wasn’t sure what to say, he himself asking Scourge the very same question only to get little to no answer to it himself. “To tell the truth, ah don’t know. Probably not, but at this point ah don’t really have much else to go with right now. Ah have a lot to deal with and if ah can use the beryl then at least that should deal with some of the problems.” The concern in Tails' eyes wasn't going to fade soon, but he didn't say anything. Amandeus stepped forward to speak instead. "If this is the best way, we will have a working prototype for you in one week's time." The large pink stone was placed over the upper left section of the graph paper. Tails immediately started work on taking measurements and imagining ways to incorporate the crystal into the design, but his father wasn't entirely sold on the idea, not yet. "Chaos energy isn't something to treat lightly." He warned. "Countless people have died in the name of it, like o'Nux and Fiona fox, and you will be closer to dangers like Enerjak and Perfect Chaos. You should be fully aware of exactly what you're doing before you decide this is the only way." A mildly put threat, but one that was deathly serious. "All of our research into it is in our laboratory. We will start immediately... Educate yourself before deciding this is final." Jack stayed quiet as Amadeus spoke. He was glad that a prototype could be made within a week but was worried about the warning that followed. He knew it wasn’t safe, he knew he could possibly die from it but as far as he knew he didn’t have any other choice, nothing else could help deal with at least some of the problems the rabbit had at this time and with what he said he would do for Scourge, it only added to his list of problems.

“Alright, thank yeh for doing this, ah’ll go over yeh'r research right away.” Jack replied, at least work could be done for this project and Jack could go over the research while they worked. Jack did his best to go through the research that was in the lab as Amadeus and Tails worked on the prototype. Jack was worried what Manic would think of him going as far as using the anarchy beryl his kingdom stole from Scourge, an event that not only took the majority of his greatest strength but also took the one person closet to him. Work continued in private. Jack did his reading while Amandeus and Tails carried the brunt of the workload, moving materials and supplies to the private parts of the castle to continue work away from the public eye. And just as hidden from the public eye was the Moebian castle, another castle just as concerned with the anarchy beryl. "So what happened to 'em?" Scourge wanted answers, and he wanted them fast. But Manic was just as clueless, and scared of what he might say, he only watched as Clash ran across the throne room floor, arms splayed for balance. "Maybe they're kept in another vault? That castle's full of secrets." All he could do was huff in annoyance. "I can't see why Jack would want it..." ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇     Jack was held still as Tails finished with the various connections. Seven... Eight... Attached in the same system as before. "Stretch your fingers," Amandeus instructed. "How does it feel? Jack hoped that once things had been figured out that the final project could be concealed or disguised by modification or hidden under clothing. Still, he had to see how the prototype worked first. As Jack laid there he did as he was told and slowly stretched his fingers on the prototype arm.

“Ah’m not too sure, it feels different, ah can certainly feel something, how does the prototype work?” "Well, we're dealing with .94 Cs of pure power at full operation, which means-" Tails piped up before his father could get technical. "The shoulder has the gem." Magenta glowed faintly through a purely visual ring engraved into the design. Subtly bulkier, a bit heavier than the old one, but the energy was felt faintly rippling near his shoulder. "And we could get the power comes from the stone, so there isn't a battery anymore. We couldn't trick it into working without finding someone evil, so you can't use it all yet-" "But we were able to allow weak chaos spears in this initial model, as well as making a weak energy field." Jack was swiveled in his chair, and the brown fox's hands moved some controls on his lower arm. "Move both of these to the right to turn off safety," he informed as two unmarked sliders near his wrist were moved. "Now, you make a field by turning off safety and clenching your fist. And for a spear, you want to point your index finger at your target. Here, try it on that model," he instructed, pointing at a beaten up crash test dummy on the opposite side of the long room. Tails instinctively stepped to the side. "Tell us how it feels." While Jack listened to Amadeus speak, he was slightly relived that Tails interrupted as he wouldn’t have understood a lot of the technical speak that would’ve been used. Jack looked at his shoulder once he was told that the gem was there powering his arm, he was glad that this arm didn’t need batteries to power it and was already a step forward in the right direction.

The rabbit wasn’t really surprised that they couldn’t get it to work without someone as twisted as the gem himself, he hoped but he didn’t want to give them an impossible task. Still what did surprise him was the fact that he could use some of it’s power to make shields and spears from the energy it made.

Jack listened to what was said as his chair was moved around until the rabbit was facing the target. Doing as he was told he moved the controls right, turning off the safety before pointing his index finger at the target. After a few seconds, the chaos energy kicked in firing a chaos spear hitting the target dead on. Jack wasn’t sure how to feel, he was feeling a rush sure but was that a good thing? He never had this kind of power before and he wasn’t sure he could handle it. After closing his fist and testing the energy shield for a few seconds he then turned the safety back on before speaking.

“A-ah don’t know how to explain it. Yeh said it was a weak spear but that felt quite strong, would the beryl react to anything ah did or will it keep producing the energy it is now?” "Gems constantly produce energy." He was informed. The fingers were examined yet again, just to be absolutely sure they wouldn't leave any marks on the metalwork. "As long as evil exists in the world, it will feed on that. In short, no, it won't run out." Amandeus seemed totally ignorant to the king's discomfort. "Now, hopefully, you shouldn't need to practice self defense, but if the time comes, you'll be entirely prepared." Pride beamed from his eyes, from the sheer intelligence his son had demonstrated for the craft. He walked across the room, examining the blast mark on the dummy. It was Tails to eventually said something, quietly. "Are you alright? Do you want to keep your other arm?" “A-ah see, very well then, thank yeh for yeh'r hard work both of yeh.” Jack replied as he listened to what was said. So now he didn’t need to keep changing parts to keep his arm working for now, so that’s one good thing that came out this.

Jack didn’t mind if Amadeus was ignorant to his discomfort, it was something he was already well used to by now. Ha watched the machinist go across the room to check the dummy before he heard Tails speak.

“A-ah’ll be fine, thank yeh. And yes, ah would like to keep mah other arm please.“ Jack answered Tails as he waited to see if there would be anymore tests for his new arm. Tails didn't seem convinced totally, but he was still obedient and ran back to the table where Jack's other arm has been placed, tails spinning with every step. "It's working brilliantly." Amandeus's voice beamed with pride in his invention. "We will need to hold on to the purple beryl if you want us to access the full power of the stone. And if there are any further alterations you would like us to make, we'd be honored to make something perfect for you." The mechanist watched as his son carried the extra metal arm to the king. "So, which arm will you wear to your proclamation today?" Jack watched as Tails went back to the table where his old arm was placed. He listened to Amadeus speak seeing how proud of this work he was.

“Ah see, ah’m glad it’s working as well as the hoped it would. By all means keep it as long as yeh need to, this is an amazing start and ah’m very grateful for the hard work yeh both have put into this project so far.” Jack replied as he listened to the final question he was asked before speaking once more.

“Ah think ah’ll keep this one for now so ah can get used to it, ah’ll come back for mah other arm once mah proclamation has been made.” Jack answered, he wasn’t looking forward to the gathering that was to occur in his throne room knowing at least the majority of reactions after he would make his plans for the kingdom known. "Well then." Amandeus and Tails seemed utterly delighted with the king's confidence in the device. "We'll be watching from the gallery. Best of luck." Best of luck. He was sure going to need that in a little under an hour. The location off a proclamation was determined by the relative impact of the ordinance. The throne room was for less important events, the balcony over the grounds for major announcements. So the gallery of representatives, castle staff, and advisors was the better alternative. People present to support the king, guide him correctly. At its core, people who wanted him to succeed. They hushed as soon as the king arrived, interested eyes falling on the king's bulkier arm. As the king reached the stairs to the throne, the whole room had silently risen. Rows of dead silent, statuesque people glared at the king in quiet anticipation for whatever was to come. “T-thank yeh.” Jack wasn’t sure how this was going to go, and in all honesty he was terrified. Even with the anarchy beryl in his arm he wasn’t sure how to go through with this. Once he left and made his way to the throne room, it left him a few quiet moments to think of what to say and what consequences would occur once he had made his announcement.

Soon enough Jack made it to the throne and was more nervous then before seeing the room full of people. He did his best to not make his new arm look as obvious but still, he had to do this now. Once he reached the throne and faced everyone that was watching him he gulped quietly before speaking.

“Everyone, ah thank yeh all for being here today, for what ah have planned will need all of yeh'r help and support to see it through. Our kingdom has done the best that it could to make it’s people happy and safe, although that doesn't include everyone. Even now they’re being mistreated and considered taboo. No longer. Starting today, the love between two men or two women will no longer be taboo here. They are people just like us, why can’t they love who they want to love? Ah will not let hate and ignorance continue to harm these people in mah kingdom anymore. Henceforth, ah will be setting up places to support these people whenever they need it, places they can be themselves and no longer have to hide who they are anymore.”

Once Jack finished speaking he sat on his throne and waited for the most obvious reaction to his speech and plans. There was a pause as the crowd took in the kings words. As normal, the closing words from the guards started, followed by applause as the king left the throne room. Most of the crowd looked confused, and a few seemed particularly excited by this announcement. Yet much of the crowd didn't clap, and a few refused to even stand for the king. Needless to say, he was going to have to explain a lot of things to a lot of people. Starting with just about immediately after, as the king prepared to catch another train to Scourge's kingdom. "Did you think... any of that through?" Of course a few closer castlehands would follow him from the throne room, but one vocal advisor in the crowd seemed to have followed the train just to rant. "Did you consult anyone before thinking to- to DEMAND that from us?" Jack was pretty much expecting a harsh response from many in that room, it didn’t surprise him that many didn’t clap or stand for him as he left. He was just glad that it was over and now he had to deal with the plans of making the support centre. Thankfully there were one or two old buildings that were rarely used that could be renovated and rebuilt to be used for the support centre.

Once jack had all the papers Scourge wanted him to fill out signed, he packed his things, including his old arm so he could change arms once he was on the train. As he made his way down he sighed as he listened to the advisor speak, demand? Was he being serious? Jack wasn’t asking for the advisors to pay out their own money to build the support centre, he wasn’t demanding them to build the place with their bare hands, he just wanted to tell them the changes he wanted to make to make the kingdom a better place.

“Demand? Ah’m sorry but ah don’t think yeh'r in any position to say weather or not ah can demand anything considering what yeh and all the other advisors have been ‘demanding of meh.” As Jack spoke he turn to stare down the vocal advisor to say what was exactly on his mind. “Yeh have demanded meh to marry someone ah have never met, yeh demanded that ah father an heir despite the fact that the one responsible for murdering just about the entire royal family still being at large, yeh forced meh onto the throne while ah was still on the hospital bed, ah think ah have every dam right to make demands advisor! And considering there hasn’t been any progress into the investigation ah’d keep mah mouth shut if ah was yeh, otherwise there may be changes in staff while Ah’m at it, do ah make mahself clear?”

Something inside him had snapped resulting in the outburst that just occurred. Was the anarchy beryl on his arm influencing him somehow? He certainly couldn’t have voiced his opinion of things that clearly before. Afterwards he left to get on the train as it left for scourge’s kingdom, the anarchy beryl in Jack’s arm faintly glowing in response to his small outburst of rage. The royal car was once again empty as Jack made the solo journey. A long, lonely ride. Escort back to the castle started out as usual. Waiting until the train was empty, then waiting for Scourge's guards to escort the king to the Moebian castle away from public eyes. Sun was setting as Jack entered into the castle courtyard, finally able to move free behind the guard of the tall walls of the courtyard. He wasn't going to have to roam far either, as Scourge was already wandering near the entrance with his youngest child in his arms. The rat's blue ears twitched against the evening air. Unlike back home, things seemed... peaceful. Of course he wasn't surprised to see Jack, he was aware of his arrival. But there was just... something. Something twitching and tickling at his mind and body, something coming over him as Jack got closer. When he finally placed his finger on it, he rushed forward, looking up and down the rabbit king frantically. "You have- You've got an anarchy beryl." He couldn't see it, but god could he feel it. Jack wasn’t sure if he should’ve brought his beryl enhanced prototype with him to Scourge’s kingdom, no doubt the other ruler will notice it somehow. Still he needed to keep it on to test it and see how it’ll run. He could always make some kind of excuse to why he had, but he couldn’t let Scourge know what he was planning with the purple beryl.

Once the train was empty, Jack went with Scourge’s guards as they made there way to the castle. Soon enough they got there and Jack could see Scourge there at the gate. Jack almost flinched when Scourge rushed up and checked him frantically, hearing those words Jack knew he couldn’t hide the fact he had an anarchy beryl but he could hide his real reasons.

“A-ah can explain! Y-yes ah do have one the reason why, well two reasons was someone tried to break in a few weeks ago and steal the anarchy beryl we had. We needed a new place to keep them, the other piece is safe in one of the deepest parts of mah castle, the other reason ah have this is mah old is breaking on meh for some reason. The power source kept dying too soon and one of the older advisors actually suggested using one of the beryl to power a new arm, ah wasn’t sure if he was serious but it worked.”

“Ah can’t use it for nothing more as a stronger battery if that’s what yeh was wondering. It was as yeh said, only someone like yeh can use it, at least now this beryl is always under watch. A-ah have those papers yeh wanted meh to sign if yeh wish to go over them.”

Jack said trying to change the subject after explaining the reasons why he had a beryl on him. He hoped that Scourge would believe his lies for now as he felt quite nervous facing the other king. Scourge's hopes of some kind of peace offering were dashed in just a few sentences, and the sheer disappointment in his face was impossible to hide. That glowing pink ring- it was so close, so damn close, but there was no way he was going to get it. He didn't care one bit about the papers. The one thing that snapped him out of it was Trenchrat. Closer to the source of energy, the little rat was suddenly moving and trying to reach for the beryl, like a shark to the scent of blood. "Kids can- Got my blood, they can sense it." He was still staring at his new arm, not anything else. His voice was hushed, tone reflecting deep thought blanketed in a restrained fury. "You've got nerve coming into my castle with a gem like that an' acting like I should just ignore it. So give me those papers, go tell your fucktoy whatever you wanna tell him, and leave. Got it?" Jack had a feeling Scourge wouldn’t be pleased, and after watching Trenchrat and listening to Scourge’s words Jack felt insulted. Under normal circumstances Jack would’ve balked and went on his way, but just like with the advisor back in his kingdom he wasn’t letting this slide.

“Ah have nerve? It was yeh'r idea to use the anarchy beryl in the first place, don’t yeh dare try to insult meh after ah decided to go through with yeh'r idea. How pathetic and desperate yeh looked when yeh took yeh'r beryl from it’s hiding place, what possessed yeh to suggest that idea back in yeh'r office if this is what ah get for doing as yeh tell meh? Ah have done everything yeh wanted so far, ah’ve let yeh use meh so Manic could stay safe, ah’ve filled paper after paper agreeing to every one of yeh'r demands, ah’ve already announced changes back in mah kingdom for the gays just as yeh wanted and ah already have more targets on mah head then ah had before.”

“Don’t yeh dare try to act high and mighty after the pitiful state yeh was in when yeh opened yeh'r big mouth and suggested that plan, ah did it and mah kingdom has managed to harness some of the Beryl’s power without having to be as fucked up as yeh are. Ah can finally get things done in mah kingdom, ah can avenge mah family when ah find the one responsible for their deaths and ah won’t let yeh or anyone else look down on meh or judge meh for following yeh'r idea.” Jack certainly made sure he was crystal clear with Scourge, giving him a full piece of his mind while trying not to shout in front of the child in the other king’s arms.

Getting out the papers Scourge wanted and tossing them onto the ground at Scourge’s feet, Jack started to walk past Scourge before speaking once more. “Ah refuse to let anyone drag meh down again, not yeh, not anyone, ah am grateful that yeh took Manic in for so long but don’t dare act like yeh have moral high ground on this. This was yeh'r idea, ah just went through on it.” And with that Jack went on his way into the castle. Scourge wasn’t the only one to feel fury in that meeting, Jack had a lot of pent up emotions he kept inside for so long and now the anarchy beryl was letting it all out. Scourge could say nothing. This was nothing like the Jack he had seen the last few times he had visited. And as Jack took his march of triumph away, Scourge couldn't figure out what he was supposed to say. Who WAS this? Jack walked as if he was in control of the castle now, like nothing would stop him. The guards and palacehands who had grown used to the sight of Jack certainly stepped back and let the royal guest did as he pleased, marching straight into the residential area of the castle and towards the guest area Manic was staying in. Manic was sitting on a loveseat with another of Scourge's children, that purple hedgehog, trying to comfort him as he cried. Hearing the guest come in caught both of their surprise. And just as with his sister, Clash seemed interested in Jack's new arm. "Woah. Dude." Manic was up already, his movements only barely slowed despite the baby weight. "Dude, you look like you wanna punch something! Come here, man, what's going on?" Jack didn’t think much of what just happened as he walked down the halls of the castle as guards and palacehands cleared out of his way. He certainly felt stronger then he did in a long time, was the anarchy beryl getting used to him and making him stronger? He didn’t know but god he more free now then he did in years. Once he made it to the residential wing of the castle that Manic was staying in, Jack went inside shutting the door behind him as Manic quickly got up to see him. He let Clash get close to his arm so Manic didn't suspect anything, hopefully Manic didn’t know what Scourge had told him.

“It’s just been a long week. A lot of things had happened and after a ‘talk’ with one of mah advisors after mah latest announcement for changes in the kingdom, ah’m just a bit tired and stressed really but ah’ll be fine. How are yeh feeling Manic?” Jack asked looking at Manic and hoping he doesn’t notice his new arm too much. "Hey, I'm- I'm doing fine babe." He was certainly eyeing down the arm, but for now, just ushering Jack closer and relaxing his legs again. The baby bulge was still growing, and it was clear the last months were upon them. "It's ain't gonna be too long, I think they're dying to come out." Clash might have been interested in the arm, but Manic still took the child's attention away. "Ain't long now buddy, you're gonna have a new friend soon!" The attraction to that arm... Manic felt it too, but couldn't place anything, and there was no doubt where it was coming from. "Dude... what's up with the new arm? It's cool, but-" His hand touched the pink glowing ring, voice silent. He almost knew, he could almost feel it. "What's going on man?" Jack listened to Manic speak and sat down with his lover, he stared at the baby bump as it was clear it wasn’t going to be long now until the child was going to be here. “Ah see, not long now then.”

Jack didn’t want Manic to notice what was in his arm, but unfortunately Clash might give him away at some point before Manic took the child’s attention away. Jack listened to Manic speak. Jack hoped he could get away with saying that it was a replacement arm since his was broken, but unfortunately for him Manic caught on.

He shouldn’t he brought the arm, he needed to get used to the feeling sure but now Scourge knew and worse Manic now knew. “M-manic, it’s just to keep an eye on it. We had a break in a few weeks ago and someone tried to steal them. We had a meeting on where we could put them for security and nah arm broke during the meeting, an advisor then suggested that we use one for mah arm so ah can watch it at all times while we keep the other as deep in the castle as we could, Ah’m not going any farther then this manic, at most it’s just a battery for mah arm that ah don’t need to replace. Besides ah can’t use it for anything else, only Scourge can use them at their full power and ah’m no where near as strong as he is, as soon as mah other arm is fixed ah put this one away ah promise.” Manic clearly had something to say, but his attention was soon taken away as Clash giggled. The arm's power was being diverted, and they could watch the glow flow into the baby, watch his quills begin to tint magenta and his body barely begin to lift off the sofa. "Clash, stop!" ◇        ◇        ◇        ◇ Clash's super transformation was interrupted, leaving the child crying. Manic didn't seem weighed down as he ran away, shortly leaving Clash with one of the nurses. Clearly, they had a lot to talk about. "Jack. Look. I love you." The pregnant royal leaned against a wall as a nurse tried to stop the infant's crying, muffled by the castle walls. "But you aren't a good liar. Chaos power has a totally different meaning in this castle. You don't know about Fiona or Enerjak or-" He sighed. "Ain't my place to tell you. Just... What's REALLY going on? Why would you mess with that kind of power?" Jack could only watch as the power from his arm flow into Clash, it was only thanks to Manic that the super transformation was stopped with the two royals leaving the baby with the nurse as Manic spoke to Jack outside.

The rabbit couldn’t help but feel infuriated. a baby probably not even a year old could harness the power of the anarchy beryl and he could barely tap into it after a week of his brightest minds working on the damm thing! Jack listened to Manic speak and go on about chaos power, Fiona and Enerjak. Once Manic finished speaking Jack spoke himself as he kept his metal fist clenched shut.

“Ah know what happened to Fiona and ah’ve read enough about Enerjak. Manic, ah’m sorry but ah need this, without this power ah won’t be able to do anything. There is still someone out there after mah head, with mah family’s blood on their hands. What will ah do if they found out about yeh and came after yeh? This investigation is going nowhere but now ah might get things moving, and when ah find the one who killed mah family then ah’ll make him suffer like they did. Ah won’t let them take yeh too Manic, ah just won’t, ah need this power so ah can protect yeh Manic.”

The best he could do was hold onto Jack and let him pour his guts out. Stroke his back gently. Let him recover.

"Jack, Angel. Ain't- Ain't being my angel good enough? You don't have to be a guardian angel, too~" A little flirting couldn't hurt, right? "Look... I'm safe here. We don't know who did what, and I wanna wring their neck out, too. But... this castle is secure, no one's getting in. Do you want revenge? Good, go for it, I want to see you screw 'em up too! But the thing is, you don't have to use anarchy beryl. If you need a fuel source, you need a chaos emerald. I mean, your lying and anger, that's all the dark energy. It twists your mind and shapes it into something worse. Scourge is there now too. And Clash was conceived while Scourge was going super... I'm scared of what he'll grow up to be like."

He gulped. "Look... I get there are so few and they're so guarded, but maybe- You know king Big, from the fisherman's kingdom? If you can get him away from that guy who keeps trying to tell him what to do, he'll be happy to trade! You can get him a- Actually, tell him to visit here some time, I can help. He's a real good guy." One hand held Jack's face softly to his chest, the other gently holding the glowing arm. "And so are you. You deserve revenge. But don't let your mind be tainted to get it. The world'll lose the real Jack... and that's exactly what the assassin wants."

Jack listened to Manic speak as he stayed close to his lover. Of course being Manic’s angel would’ve been enough but right now he didn’t know what to do, a lot of things were happening and he just wanted to end some of them as soon as he could. He wanted revenge for his family, he wanted to protect Manic, but at the same time he needed to keep control of what was happening in his own kingdom, he knew that the many nobles that attended the morning announcement would probably do everything they could to stop it or deter it as long as they could.

Jack listened to Manic speak of stopping using the anarchy beryl and using a chaos emerald instead, how was he supposed to get one of those? Jack thought as Manic continued to speak of the Beryl’s corrupting influence and what it had already done to Scourge and Clash. Once Manic suggested trading his beryl with Big’s chaos emerald that didn’t help with Jack’s anxiety. “Can Big even do that? Won’t he get into trouble by trading his chaos emerald with something that’s practically useless to him?”

Jack asked, although he couldn’t deny that there was no one better for keeping the beryl safe then Big, after all there was probably no one as pure as him to keep the beryl under safe watch while not falling for its influence like Jack was already starting to. Jack shook his head when Manic spoke off inviting Big to Scourge’s castle before explaining why. “Ah don’t think that’s a good idea, ah’ll find somewhere to meet with Big if we go through with this but ah don’t think Scourge will do meh any more favours after today.”

As Manic held Jack close to him and said his final words Jack couldn’t help but shake a little in his lover’s arms. It was probably too late for the old Jack, he was broken a long time ago, the least he could do now was try and rebuild himself with better pieces then he was using now. “Ah think they already got what they wanted. The last thing ah heard from the explosion was, your time has come, enter, Jack, yeh’re hell awaits.” The words froze Manic every time he heard them. It was terrifying just to THINK of hearing Jack threatened with that, and from some ethereal voice. He wanted to argue more, wanted to get JAck to take off his anarchy infused arm, but he couldn't say anything. "Enter, Jack..." The words came out of Manic's mouth in a mumble. "It's real- real awkward wording, ain't it?" Slowly, the grip loosened, and Manic looked down at his partner with some kind of fear in his eyes. "I get- I get this sounds weird, but hear me out. Are you SURE that's what you heard, like totally sure? Cause what if you-" He gulped. "Wasn't it a chaos energy explosion? And isn't- isn't chaos energy needed to summon... Enerjak?" When Manic started to speak after hearing Jack’s words of the last thing he heard from the day his family were taken, Jack wasn’t really sure what he heard. Granted he was barely conscious with the searing pain of three missing limbs plus a very loud ringing in his ears didn’t help at the time, it was definitely possible he misheard what was said that day but if that wasn’t what he heard that day what was said?

“A-ah don’t know, ah honestly can’t remember what happened, but now that ah think about it this power ah’ve been feeling from this beryl does feel somewhat similar to the pain ah felt back then, m-maybe it was chaos energy.

Jack replied while doing the best he could to remember something, anything, any small detail that he couldn’t before. The fact that Manic helped jack figure out what kind of blast it was back then did help more then anything his kingdom had found so far. Hearing Manic’s final words Jack thought about it, it did make some sense to the situation, if it was a blast of chaos energy and if what was said was Enerjak not 'enter, Jack,' then that was another part of the mystery solved, but that only left one or two last questions.

"W-why meh? Why mah family? Why did they have to die and why am ah still alive then if whoever did this was trying to summon Enerjak?” Manic had started moving Jack before the idea would sink in, and he could find himself being seated on a chair against one of the hall walls. "I- I don't know. I don't know enough myself." Despite sitting Jack down, Manic was still standing, too anxious to rest. "But if it needed chaos energy, if it needed something like that, maybe it needed a sacrifice. Maybe cause you survived, he couldn't be summoned? I don't know... I don't know!" Clearly, he was frustrated at himself, just throwing out any words that pretended to make sense. "Scourge's royal inventor might know, Doctor Finitevus. I know he's studied the spirit, but he's been..." One hand covered his mouth. "Finny's been missing for a year now...!" Jack wasn’t sure what to think as he was sat down while Manic was still standing, he would’ve preferred Manic sitting down to rest but right now it didn’t seem like Manic was going to rest at all. He listened to Manic speak and while it made some sort of sense that if Jack survived then Enerjak couldn’t be summoned, but that didn’t explain how he survived and who had a motive to use his family to summon the spirit.

But once Manic spoke of Scourge’s royal inventor and how Doctor Finitevus was missing for a year things were slowly clicking into place and finally a suspect was named. "Y-yeh don’t think he did it do yeh Manic?” That was all he needed, that drop in the bucket to say maybe Jack heard wrong. "I mean- I mean, nothing can be proved, but like- Like, describe his voice for me, that voice you heard again! Didn't you say it was gravely, mid-tone, kinda snobby?!" Manic was getting excited, but this wasn't the good excitement. This was the excitement that boiled through his mind and burned at his flesh, furious at the mere thought of giving a hereto faceless threat a familiar name. "Get your normal arm on." Manic told Jack, looking him in the eye as he squatted down to his level. "We aren't gonna get a better lead than this! Put that beryl away, save it for when you really need it. When you finally get back at that- that-!" He shot up to his feet and pushed his fringe back. "Ready to get some revenge?" Jack wasn’t sure where Manic was going with this, should he try to stop Manic now before he got too into it and risk stressing his body out too much? "W-well, yes, the voice ah heard was like that.” Jack answered Manic’s question and once Manic finished speaking of getting revenge, Jack stood up and put his hands on Manic’s shoulders.

“Manic, love, ah know yeh want to help meh and ah can’t thank yeh enough for what yeh did for meh so far, but ah think yeh should take it easy now, yeh’re not in the best of shape for things like this and the child’s not too far away now. Ah don’t want yeh stressing yehself over this, now that ah have a lead ah’ll settle things, just promise meh yeh’ll stay safe, please?”

Jack spoke to Manic and just wanted nothing more then for Manic to be safe and well, and with him getting this excited it wouldn’t do him or the baby any good. “Ah promise once this is over ah’ll never use the anarchy beryl ever again.” It was strange, Manic being the one being comforted by Jack. But it wasn't at all unwelcomed. The silent look back at Jack was interrupted by Manic sighing and his body deflating as he tried to calm down. "Well... If you're getting revenge without me, make it hurt him." He put his hands on Jack's sides before moving in for a kiss, holding the moment for both their comfort. "You're an incredible guy, Jack. I can't wait 'til we're safe. You, me, and little babyface down here." He smiled back, eyes filled with hope as he knew they finally had a lead, and a chance to make things right.

[whumppile]

Hawaii Five 0 Fanfic: Chagrined

(Steve gets hurt and worries Danny, and gets a telling off for his trouble)

“Steve get out of there, now!” Danny yelled into his earpiece as he tried to fight the hands holding him back. There was a bomb in an apartment complex, and while everyone sane had left the building as fast as they could, Mr Super SEAL was still inside.

“There’s still a couple of people here, I have to get them out!”

Danny was sweating like crazy, panicking over the idiot and the ticking clock, counting down the explosion. Bomb squad wouldn’t get there fast enough, and they had only seconds left.

“Get out of there right now or so help me Steven, I will kill you!” Danny was really working himself up, screaming so loudly, Chin and Kono winced and almost pulled out their own earpieces.

Grover grumbled about going deaf, while Steve sprinted through the building, scooping up a ten-year-old as he did. “I got the last one! Move everyone back!”

Chin looked worriedly at the clock, as he placed a hand on Danny’s shoulder; offering what little comfort he could while their leader was in such grave danger.

“Everyone’s behind the perimeter, Steve but you only have ten seconds left!”

Danny cursed and rubbed an anxious hand over his head, wanting to pace or shout but having to hide instead and just hope that the idiot made it out alive.

Chin counted down the seconds, as Danny’s panicked breaths got quicker, and Steve’s panting grew in intensity.

“Eight. Seven. Six. Five..”

“Steven, dammit!”

A few straggler residents sprinted from the building, making Danny’s anxiety spike for every one that wasn’t Steve, until the last few seconds when that idiot finally flew through the doors, holding a terrified child.

“Steve!”

The bomb blew, turning the ground level of the building into a whirlwind of fire and debris; sending glass flying into the street and flames pouring from the doorway. Steve had only gotten a few meters away when the bomb exploded, and the force of the blast sent him soaring.

Danny watched in horror as his partner did his best to protect the kid in his arms while being flung towards the unforgiving concrete. For someone who liked cats so much, he did a terrible job of landing on his feet, seeming to twist in the air, as much as he could, in order to soften the child’s landing with his own body.

He struck the ground hard, eyes snapping shut as pain took over everything, and succumbed to the darkness.

Danny watched Steve hit the ground, and ran to him as soon as the explosion was over. Screams echoed around him but all he could see were those closed eyes and slack jaw, blood pooling on the concrete behind his head like a dark halo.

“Steve! I need medics over here, officer down!”

Kono was right behind Danny as he ran over, carefully pulling the crying child from her boss’s limp arms. The kid was shaken but okay, and Danny felt like throwing up at the way Steve’s arms fell from the kid, to smack against the ground. He wasn’t moving.

The detective knelt beside his partner, quickly pressing two fingers to the SEAL’s throat. He didn’t breathe until he felt it, that thrumming beat, telling him his idiot had survived. Kono handed off the crying kid to his relieved and grateful mother, before kneeling down next to her teammates.

“Is he alive?”

Danny nodded and angrily wiped at his damp eyes as he placed a shaking hand against Steve’s chest, finding comfort in the rise and fall, however strained it seemed to be.

“We gotta get the medics over here, he’s bleeding too fast.”

Kono looked at the blood pooling on the ground and watched Danny as he carefully slipped his hands under his partners head, bracing his neck so that he wouldn’t move, while trying to stop the bleeding.

“Head wounds bleed a lot, you know that. I’m sure he’ll be okay, Danny.” Her attempt to reassure did not go unnoticed, but it did nothing to stop Danny from thinking the worst.

“Yeah, it’s not just the bleeding I’m worried about.” He had hit his head, so hard it was a wonder he still had one left at all. And the detective knew they could be looking at a serious head injury.

Kono yelled for some medics, waving them over and stepping back to allow them room. One of the medics nodded to Danny and replaced his hands on Steve’s head, placing a collar to stabilize the neck and holding gauze to stop the bleeding.

“Sir, I need you to step back. We’ll take care of him.”

Chin patted Danny’s back in comfort as they watched the medics work, placing lines and lifting eyelids, all the while rattling off numbers and acronyms that Danny didn’t understand. Finally, they shifted the unconscious man onto a back board and strapped him onto a gurney.

“I’m coming with him.” His words were quiet but stern, not even waiting for an answer as he hopped into the back of the ambulance and took one of his partners hands in his.

It was always hard seeing the indestructible super SEAL when he was hurt, and Danny couldn’t take his eyes off those closed eyes and pale face, wires snaking over his chest and straps pinning him down. He needed to focus, to get a hold on his emotions; but Steve hadn’t woken up or reacted to anything and he was getting worried. Well, more worried.

The arrived at the hospital and Steve was taken away for head scans, leaving Danny standing in the hall staring after them.

The rest of the team met him in the ER waiting room, asking questions he couldn’t give answers to.

“Is he okay?”

“Did they say anything?”

The detective looked down at his blood-stained hands and tried not to throw up.

“I don’t know, they took him for tests. How’s the kid?”

Chin lead the man over to a chair as Kono went to fetch something to wash the blood off his hands.

“He’s okay, we had him looked over, he got away with a few scratches. Everyone else got out fine, no casualties. How are you doing?”

Danny looked up, surprised. “Me? I’m fine.”

Grover raised an eyebrow in that pointed look of his, meaning he didn’t believe a word he was hearing.

Danny rolled his eyes and accepted the damp paper towels Kono was offering. “I’m worried, okay? His head bounced off that concrete like a basketball and he wasn’t showing any signs of waking up, and there was just so much blood and-“

Kono knelt in front of the detective and took the wet paper from his hands; he’d been squeezing it to a pulp without realizing. She gently wiped it over his hands and cleared away the blood, making him feel like a child as she cleaned him up. He was grateful for her care, and watched her as she spoke quietly to him.

“Boss is tough, and very stubborn and I think you’ll be the first to agree that his head is thick as tree bark. He’ll be okay, and you know he hates when you worry.”

Danny took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. Kono was right, if anyone could walk away from something like this it was Steve. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to worry.

Time ticked on, and no news came. Danny took to pacing and wringing his hands as the waiting room started to fill with people. It took hours, and everyone was getting antsy without any news.

Finally, a doctor came out and called for the family of Steve McGarrett, blinking in surprise when half the room of people stood up. Danny hurried towards her and squeezed his fingers anxiously in front of himself, the rest of the team crowding behind.

“How is he, doc?”

The woman took a breath and pressed her clipboard to her chest.

“He’s doing well, we got the bleeding sorted before it became too much of a problem. The cut on the back of his head required ten stitches and he does have a pretty bad concussion but the CT came back clear so we’ll just keep him overnight for observation before he can go home.”

There was a collective sigh of relief but Danny wasn’t completely done.

“He wasn’t responding to anything before, is he…?”

The doctor nodded, looking down at her clipboard as she spoke.

“Yes, he woke up a little while ago and he’s answering all questions, and alert. He actually insisted he was fine and tried to leave so we gave him a mild sedative to help keep him in bed. Now, I understand you were worried about his liver. You asked that it be checked, and while he has some bruising to his back and ribs from the fall, his liver is fine.”

Danny nodded, shoulders sagging in relief.

“Good, thank you. Can I see him?”

Another nod and an apologetic smile to the rest of the group.

“Yes, but he needs to rest so just one or two visitors at a time, I’m afraid. He was asking to speak to someone named Danno first?”

The detective rolled his eyes but smiled at the confused woman.

“That would be me, even though I’ve told the idiot not to call me that.”

She was about to lead him down the hall when the pattering of little feet caught his attention.

“Danno!” It wasn’t Steve calling him that this time, but Charlie, running down the hall with his sister behind him, looking scared. Danny bent down and caught his son in his arms, picking him up and holding him to his side with one arm, so that he could wrap the other around Grace.

“Mom said Uncle Steve was hurt! Is he going to be okay? Is that blood?”

Danny released Grace and looked down at his sleeve, mentally cursing the smear of blood on his cuff. He shook his head and gently wiped a tear that fell down her cheek.

“No, everything’s okay. Uncle Steve saved a little kid from a bomb today and hit his head but he’s okay, it was just a little bump. He’s going to be fine. I’m going in to see him now, but you can visit when I come back to get you okay? I just need to talk to him first.”

Grace nodded and sniffed, as Danny gave Charlie a cuddle and a kiss on the forehead. The toddlers voice was sad.

“Uncle Steve got hurt?”

Danny rocked him in his arms, savouring the snuggle from the little guy.

“Yeah, but he’s okay. He’s a superhero and heroes are always okay, right?”

Charlie nodded. “Right. Love you Danno.”

“Love you too, munchkin. Stay with Gracie, I’ll be back soon.”

He placed the kid on the ground and gave a reassuring smile to Grace before turning back to the waiting doctor.

She nodded and lead him to a private room, where one Steven McGarrett was waiting in a bed, playing with the wires attached to his chest.

Danny was so glad to see him awake, and even more glad that he had a private room, because he planned to start yelling as soon as the doctor left.

Steve spotted him as he thanked the doctor and closed the door.

“Hey, Danno! Is that kid okay? He was really scared.”

The blonde bit his lip and nodded.

“He’s fine, are you okay?”

The SEAL nodded nonchalantly, as if he hadn’t almost cracked his skull open on the pavement.

“Are you sure? You promise everything’s okay?” Danny was genuinely asking, because he needed to know that he could hit the dumb ass without breaking him.

Steve waved his hand in the air, before frowning at the IV at the back of his hand. “I promise, buddy.”

“Good, because I have a few things to say to you.”

Steve made a face, knowing he was in for it, but he didn’t say anything, just waved a hand in invitation for his partner to continue. Which he did, voice hard.

“You’re an idiot. A total and complete lunatic! You cannot go running into buildings that are about to blow up!”

Steve sighed, feeling admonished only because he knew how worried Danny had been.

“Danny, I’m sorry but those people needed help getting out and I-“

The detective interrupted. “I’m not finished. You can’t just run blind into every dangerous situation you come across, because we need you! I need you, Steven. I can’t lose you, because I can’t look at my kids and tell them their Uncle Steve is gone. Grace is out there crying, and Charlie is too young to understand and I won’t tell them that you’re gone! If you don’t stop and think about what you’re doing, you are going to end up leaving them and I’m not letting that happen!

“I know you think you have to save everyone, but you need to think about what you’d be leaving if you don’t make it out next time. That waiting room is full of people that love you, and you. Will not. Leave them. I love you Steven, and my kids love you, and you will do everything in your power to stay alive long enough to cry with me when Grace gets married. Because I will have a panic attack unless you’re there with one of your annoyingly inspiring speeches. Do you understand me? You don’t get to leave, I won’t let you.” Danny’s eyes were suspiciously misty as his voice shook, and Steve felt sufficiently chagrined as he nodded.

“I understand. I’m sorry I worried you and made Grace cry. I didn’t mean to.”

Danny sniffed and reached for his partner, placing a hand at the back of Steve’s neck and pulling him in for a hug.

“Come here, I know. I hate you so much.”

Steve let out a small laugh. “I know you do. I love you too, Danno.”

There was that nickname again, but the detective didn’t have the energy to tell him off anymore, so he just hugged him for a while, until his heart calmed.

Steven J. McGarrett was the biggest idiot he’d ever met, but god dammit he was one lovable son of a bitch.

(First fic for Hawaii five 0 but i just binhed the series so I hope I did okay. I wanted dannys speech to be longer but its currently 1;30 am so i have to get my ass to bed. Please tell me if you liked it and you can find all my fics on ao3 and fanfiction.net through the links on my blog or by searching my author name wolfypuppypiles)